Report: NBPA tells agents they still expect players to be paid during hiatus

The National Basketball Players Association is still expecting its players to be paid even while the NBA season is on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday said the NBPA warned players that there is a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that says owners would be freed from paying salaries to players in certain situations. This “force majeure” clause accounts for factors such as natural disasters and war. A pandemic like the coronavirus probably could qualify as such an event.

Still, the NBPA reportedly told its players they are expecting them to be paid.

Sources: The National Basketball Players Association has sent a memo to player agents stating that they “fully expect that players will continue to receive salary on their designated paydays” during NBA’s suspended season.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 14, 2020

The NBPA has not had discussions on potential adjustments and stated they do not expect to until further scheduling decisions are made, per memo. Many factors still in play. https://t.co/1Nv6rzeq1b

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 14, 2020

The hope is that nobody will have to miss paychecks, but that might not be realistic if games aren’t played for a month or longer. The top priorities in these situations is to start with the people who make the least amount of money — those who can afford to miss paychecks the least — and make sure they’re paid. Luckily it seems like some people are trying to step in to make sure the game-day staffers are taken care of.