Adam Silver doesn't anticipate the NBA's upcoming round of labor negotiations with the players' union to put the start of the 20-21 season in jeopardy.
"I don’t have any expectations of labor issues, I think, in the way you’re suggesting it, meaning that we won’t be able to resolve them," said Silver. "There’s no doubt there are issues on the table that need to be negotiated. I think it’s — we’ve managed to work through every other issue so far. I think we have a constructive relationship with them. We share all information. We look at our various business models together.
"So I think while no doubt there will be issues and there will be some difficult negotiations ahead, I fully expect we’ll work them out, as we always have."
The NBA will almost certainly have a reduced BRI for the 20-21 season, but they're widely expected to keep the cap artificially higher to not put a shock to the system.
"If we just went by the formula in the collective bargaining agreement, we’d have a huge reduction in the cap and tax, and not only would it create havoc in terms of planning purposes for our teams, but I think roughly a third of the league would be free agents, and so there would be enormous inequity there because there would be no cap room for those players to sign contracts," said Silver.
"So I think this is where the Players Association also has to work through issues among themselves and sort of an equitable distribution in terms of wherever — whatever the pool of salary is that we have to distribute next year."
