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Brandon Dill/Associated Press
At a time of enormous popularity and prosperity for the N.B.A., the league and the players’ union reached an agreement in principle Wednesday on a seven-year collective bargaining agreement that ensures labor peace through the 2023-24 season.
Representatives from the N.B.A. and the National Basketball Players Association were facing a Thursday deadline before which either side could have opted out of the current agreement. That deal, which dates to 2011 and was for 10 years, would have remained in place through the end of the 2016-17 season even if either side had opted out. But the league and the union were pre-emptive in hashing out revised terms on issues like roster size and player salaries, averting the threat of another work stoppage next season.
The new agreement must be ratified by players and team owners, the league said. To give both sides enough time to review the…
