It’s official as owners, players ratify new deal

NBA owners and players made it official yesterday, ratifying a new deal that brings the protracted lockout to a close and paves the way for a Christmas start to the season.

The move means training camps and what promises to be a hectic free agent trading period will open today.

Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver announced the deal at a press conference.

“I think most importantly we’re back to basketball,” Silver said. “I think legacies aside, it would have been terrible for the players, for the teams, our fans, concessionaires, everyone involved if we had lost more games than we had, so I think that’s most important.”

Owners voted 25-5 to approve the deal. The players’ union said 86 per cent of the more than 200 players who voted electronically approved the deal.

The 10-year contract allows either side to opt out after six years. Under its terms, owners will save up to a quarter billion dollars a year.

However, the players were able to hang onto the soft salary cap they battled to maintain.

The NBA season had been scheduled to start on November 1, but the two sides were unable to reach a new agreement to replace the one whose expiration saw owners lock out players on July 1.

After a tentative agreement was reached on November 26, the NBA announced its plan for a compressed 66-game schedule – 16 shorter than normal – which will force every team to navigate demanding stretches at home and on the road that they would not normally endure in a full season.

The season begins with five games on Christmas Day, including the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Chicago Bulls and NBA champions Dallas taking on Miami in a finals re-match.

The regular season is scheduled to conclude on April 26 and the playoffs will open two nights later.