A key part of the latest collective bargaining agreement in the NBA will take measures to take care of retired NBA players like never before. Together, the NBA and the NBPA will fund a brand new health insurance plan and educational program focused on career development in addition to increasing the pension benefits for retired players. Prior to this arrangement, retired players were responsible for finding their own health insurance. Now, the league will continue to support them.
Following the sudden deaths of Darryl Dawkins and Moses Malone, the NBA and NBPA knew they needed to do something about healthcare for their retired players. The push to increase what the NBA can do for players retired from the game was led by commissioner Adam Silver and influenced by some of the biggest names in the game, like Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and current Charlotte Hornets owner and all-time NBA icon Michael Jordan.
Jordan uses his role as an owner to help convince other owners around the league to see the benefits of contributing more to the funds made available to retired players, while current players like Anthony and James focused on finding ways to give back to those who came before them to make the league what is has become today.
“That was kind of a big point for us to be able to give back to retired players,” Anthony told ESPN concerning the recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations. “Every league sees what happens to retired players after a certain period of time. But for us to be able to take care of those guys, I know how much it means to them.”
Now, as the headline here suggests, it would be interesting to see if other leagues adopt a similar stance to go so far to protect and provide for retired players even after years away from the league. Of course, it may be more feasible for the NBA to do so considering the rosters in the league are a fraction of those seen in every other professional league, especially the NFL.
[ESPN]
