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NBA Refs Barred From Tipping Locker Room AttendantsNBA referees are no longer allowed to tip locker room attendants, and teams were notified that they must report any violations of that new rule to the league office, ESPN.com learned Wednesday. The "no-tipping" policy is part of the new two-year collective bargaining agreement between the league and the referees' union, and ESPN.com obtained a league memo outlining the rule. "The new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and National Basketball Referees Association prohibits referees from paying tips or compensation of any kind to locker room attendants or other team or arena personnel for personal services performed for referees by such personnel during games. Consequently, team and arena personnel are now prohibited from asking for or accepting tips or other compensation from referees," said the memo, which was signed by Ronald Johnson, the league's senior vice president of referee operations. "This is an important change to the CBA," the memo states. "While we do not believe that the pre-existing practice of tipping locker room attendants has affected the integrity of the officiating in any way, it could be perceived in a negative light, and it is therefore best to eliminate this practice. "We expect all team and arena personnel to adhere strictly to the 'no tipping' policy, and ask that you provide notice of the new rule immediately to any affected personnel. If you learn of any referee who has paid a tip or other form of compensation to a locker room attendant or other personnel in violation of the CBA, please notify one of us." The practice of tipping locker room attendants was outlined as something NBA referees allegedly gambled on, according to excerpts from a book by Tim Donaghy. "We agreed with the referees' union that it was a conflict of interest to have referees and team personnel exchanging money," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Las Vegas Getting More Serious About Building ArenaLas Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman said he has worked hard to get NBA officials and owners interested in the arena. He plans on having the Las Vegas City Council next week look at an exclusive contract with The Cordish Companies to start planning an arena. "These are serious people. These are not people who are operating on a wing and a prayer," Goodman said. "Cordish has a proven track record. They don't have time to play games." "I believe as soon as we have an arena — this is my belief, I have nothing that is signed in blood, there's no contract — but I believe we'll have a team," he said. The mayor also said he was not ruling out a professional hockey team coming to town to play in the arena either. "I don't know anything about hockey. I'm learning rugby now," he said, laughing. "I love basketball. So I thought about basketball. Whatever the market is gonna be, it's gonna be. There are a lot of great hockey fans here. The truth of the matter is that in many of these arenas they have both. ... I would hope they would have both because I think our constituents are entitled to both." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback NBA Pushes Back Deadline For 2006 Draft Class
NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com that all 30 teams were notified via league memorandum earlier this week that the league's annual Oct. 31 deadline for players in the fourth year of their rookie-scale contracts, according to the collective-bargaining agreement, is moved to the next available business day if the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday. Rajon Rondo and the Celtics are the parties most likely to be affected by pushing the deadline back. Andrea Bargnani (Toronto), No. 2 LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland), No. 6 Brandon Roy (Portland) and No. 13 Thabo Sefolosha (Oklahoma City) are the only members of the class to sign extensions. General Basketball, Boston Celtics Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Oct 2009 Archive
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The NBA has pushed the deadline for contract extensions for all players from the 2006 draft class from Saturday to Monday, league spokesman Tim Frank confirmed Thursday night to ESPN.