NBA and players’ union reach pact on new seven-year labor agreement

• NBA, NBPA reach deal on new collective bargaining agreement
• Tentative agreement between parties kicks in this summer

The most financially successful era in NBA history will continue uninterrupted for at least six more years, after the league and its players came to a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that will kick in this summer.

It took more than a year of bargaining, with the intensity and expectation growing in recent days, and the handshake agreement was struck in the wee hours of Saturday morning - shortly after the league intended to tell the National Basketball Players Association of its plan to opt out of the current CBA on 30 June.