Minor league
Perhaps the most significant development in the new CBA will be the creation of a true NBA minor league via the NBDL. Both sides were interested in making this happen and it was never a serious impediment to the bargaining process.
The league wanted the minor league because it wanted to give teams an outlet to develop younger players. It should be especially beneficial to veteran teams with young players, like Darko Milicic, who can't crack the rotation.
The players wanted it because it would create more jobs. If a team sends a young player down to the NBDL, he wouldn't count on their active roster. That job would, in turn, go to a veteran.
The NBDL recently expanded to eight teams. Stern said his goal will be to add another seven teams by the start of the 2006-07 season. However, deputy commisoner Russ Granik told Insider that teams will be allowed to begin sending players to the D league this season.
Here are the key terms of the agreement on the NBDL:
• Each NBA team will be allowed to send players to a designated NBDL team, along with an assistant coach to monitor the players' development.
• The league will eventually expand to 15 teams, and two NBA teams will share each NBDL team.
• Players can be sent down to the NBDL for only the first two years of their career. Veterans cannot be assigned to an NBDL team.
• First-round picks will continue to be paid at the rookie wage scale. This was a key concession to the players, who didn't want owners to use the league as a way of cutting player salaries.
• Teams will retain the rights to all of their players and can recall them at any time.
• The NBDL will lower its age limit from 20 years to 18 years. That means that high school players who are ineligible for the draft will be able to play in the NBDL for a year before entering the draft. That dramatic change gives high school players another avenue into professional basketball (and an income source) should they choose to skip college.
A minor league will alter the draft strategy of teams, encouraging them to draft younger players with big upsides because of the ability to develop players down the road. This could have a big impact in this year's draft. Big-upside players like Martynas Andriuskevicius, Andrew Bynum, Yaroslav Korolev and Ersan Ilyasova suddenly look much more interesting to teams than they did 24 hours ago.
Now that teams have the option of drafting players and developing them in the minor leagues, look for more teams to reach, starting in this year's draft.