Draymond Green is not a fan of the NBA's new labor deal

The announcement of the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has been greeted with cheers across the basketball world. Seemingly no one wanted another lockout this summer, and the new deal will ensure that the offseason proceeds as planned and the league extends its period of labor peace for at least another six seasons. That’s good news for any fan or person who derives income from the NBA.

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However, one outspoken NBA star is not pleased with the new agreement. Golden State Warriors union rep Draymond Green fired off these tweets shortly after the deal was announced:

It is impossible to know which aspects of the new CBA have upset Green, because the vast majority of us don’t know much about the agreement. Bits of information have come out here and there, but Green and others haven’t made public statements on the specifics of negotiations. Unlike in the 2011 lockout, the two sides have not had to wage a PR war to strengthen their positions.

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Nevertheless, we can make some educated guesses about Green’s tweets. His reference to the need to “stand for something” suggests that he wanted the union to push to win back much of what they lost in 2011, including roughly $300 million in player salaries via a lower percentage of basketball-related income, the ability to sign five-year contracts with new teams, and larger annual raises. That would have been a hard-line position in these negotiations, during which union leadership seemed more inclined to reach a decent deal in a reasonable timeframe than to dig in and wrench as many concessions from owners as they could.

It’s not worth arguing which approach would have been better right at this moment. However, it’s possible that the union will see more pushback from its members. Phoenix Suns wing Jared Dudley responded to Green’s tweets with his own frustration over the negotiations:

It’s very possible that Dudley will like what he sees in the new agreement — he did welcome its announcement with some celebratory emojis. While ratification of the deal appears to be a formality, plenty of players could take issue with certain aspects, especially if they felt that they were not given a voice during negotiations.

The NBPA deserves credit for avoiding a lockout, but the work doesn’t stop there. As we learned in 2011, a new CBA sets the stage for the next negotiation, even if that discussion is six years away.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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