New York (AFP)
NBA plans to pay players full wages on April 1 as planned, but may start making cuts from April 15 to recover money lost due to season suspension, reports ESPN Saturday.
Citing a note from the League sent to clubs on Friday, the sports media says that the League may soon begin to withhold wages, based on a "force majeure" clause in its collective agreement with the players.
The note says the league will notify the teams before April 15, the day the regular season was originally scheduled to end.
The worldwide spread of the Covid-19 has caused the suspension of numerous sports competitions, including the NBA, which was arrested on March 13 after a first case diagnosed in a player, the Frenchman Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz).
Under the terms of the collective agreement, the League can withhold a percentage of salaries in the event of a catastrophic situation which requires the cancellation of matches, in particular in the event of a pandemic.
The League could therefore in the short term withhold the players' wages under this clause and pay them later if the matches were ultimately to be played.
To date, it is impossible to know when and if the NBA season will resume. According to media reports, the owners of the League, who expect to suffer significant financial losses if the season does not resume, have asked the cinemas if it was possible to play matches in August.
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