NBA pursues payroll spending limit in new CBA

The NBA is “pursuing the implementation of an upper spending limit” in its negotiations on a new CBA with the NBPA, according to sources. In the wake of large-market teams the Warriors, Nets and Clippers “running up massive payrolls and luxury tax penalties,” the NBA is “proposing a system that would replace the luxury tax with a hard limit that teams could not exceed to pay salaries.” Sources said that the league's proposal has “been met with the firm resistance of the NBPA,” to the point of the union “considering it a nonstarter in discussions.” The NBA and NBPA are “working to reach an agreement before a Dec. 15 deadline” that each side has to “give notice of plans to opt out of the current CBA in December 2023.” The seven-year CBA “expires after the 2023-24 season” (ESPN.com, 10/28).