National Basketball Association

Infusion of cash critical during lockout

Published Jul. 12, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

NBA players apparently will have some extra money to fall back on during the league’s lockout.

This offseason, for the first time, the NBA’s players will be rebated up to $160 million in escrow money that’s withheld from their paychecks each seasons, NBA.com reported Tuesday.

Eight percent of each player’s salary goes into the escrow funds so their collective share of basketball-related income is not more than the 57 percent in the current contract between the league and union.

The 2010-11 season marked the first time since the inception of the system after the 1998-99 work stoppage that the players will not reach the 57 percent threshold, sources from the league and National Basketball Players Association told NBA.com.

This infusion of cash, which based on the "average" NBA salary of $5.7 million would be worth $456,000, might lessen the blow from the recently imposed lockout.