NBA To Have 66 Game Season….

The NBA and the players who served as plaintiffs in a landmark antitrust case against the league struck a deal late Tuesday night to settle the lawsuit, pending the re-formation of the players’ union and the writing of a new collective bargaining agreement, according to sources close to the talks.

The settlement had been expected since early Saturday, when the players and owners announced a tentative deal to end the lockout and preserve a 66-game season. And Steve Aschburner of NBA.com reported late Tuesday that the players’ legal team had begun distributing the authorization cards players must sign in order to reconstitute the National Basketball Players’ Association as a true union with the power to collectively bargain on behalf of the players. The union dissolved itself a little more than two weeks ago, clearing the way for an antitrust suit in which the players accused the owners of engaging in an illegal group boycott (the lockout) and requested damages equal to triple their lost salary.

That decision took the negotiations from the boardroom to the courtroom, a change that added a few formal hurdles to the process of writing a new collective bargaining deal. Settling the litigation is the first step in that process. The settlement will include the economic nuts and bolts of the new agreement — the revenue split, the cap and tax rules and other similar items the two sides agreed upon before Saturday’s announcement. The two sides Tuesday got the federal judge hearing the case in Minnesota to stay all proceedings until Dec. 9, signaling a settlement was close.

AMICK: SUMMARY OF TENTATIVE NBA DEAL

The next steps will include:

• The players reforming their union, a process underway now through the authorization cards.

• The negotiation of the full CBA, including the so-called “B-List” issues, many of which are non-economic and thus could not be lumped into the litigation settlement. Some of those issues will include the age limit, rules for assigning players to the D-League, the commissioner’s power to discipline players and rules for drug testing. The process of negotiating those issues is ongoing, though it’s clear from sources and published reports the two sides have essentially agreed to table the most controversial issues — the age limit and D-League assignments — for future study.

The players’ suit will be dismissed before Dec. 9, provided all of these conditions are met. Good news for NBA fans: The process is going as expected so far.