It comes after some of the league's top players were ruled out by the league's health and safety protocols in the past week – now teams will be able to sign replacements without incurring any additional salary cap or luxury tax commitments
Monday 20 December 2021 06:45, UK
The NBA and the association representing the league's players have come to an agreement over rules which will allow teams stricken by Covid-19 cases to sign additional players, according to a report.
A report by ESPN says that an agreement was struck on Sunday night between league officials and the National Basketball Players Association to amend rules and allow teams to sign extra players when rosters are affected by players entering the league's health and safety protocols.
It comes after a number of the league's top players including Brooklyn's Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young were all sidelined during the past week.
The rule changes mean teams will now be allowed to sign replacement players between now and January 19, when the rules will be reviewed and the league will provide further guidance to teams. The amendments mean that teams will be able to sign one player for every one who is ruled out of playing by virtue of entering the league's health and safety protocols.
In addition to that, a team will be obliged to sign at least one replacement player if they have two positive COVID-19 cases; at least two if they have three positive COVID-19 cases; and at least three if they have four or more positive COVID-19 cases.
A league memo, obtained by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, also stated that any time a team signs a player it is required to sign, that player must be available by the start of the team's first game after the allowance to sign a replacement player is granted by the NBA.
None of the players signed will count towards a team's annual salary or potential luxury tax payments and an additional element of the agreement means that two-way players no longer have a maximum number of games for which they can appear on a team's active roster. The previous 50-game limit has been scrapped and players will now be paid an increased rate if they go above it.
It's hoped the rule changes will provide some flexibility for teams who have been scrambling to fill out their rosters with replacement players to remain above the minimum eight active player threshold necessary to play an NBA game and to avoid as many future postponements as possible, after the league was forced to cancel a number of games on Sunday.
