The NBA's 2011 Collectively Bargained Amnesty Clause-Exploring the Fundamentals

The purpose of this article is to fundamentally introduce the amnesty clause, a relatively new provision in the labor and employment law discussions involving sport. The expression amnesty clause or amnesty provision is found in the 2011 NBA CBA. To date, academic references to the amnesty clause within the sport genre are virtually non-existent. The amnesty clause provides NBA teams a tool to release players from their contracts if they feel that the player turned out to be a bad investment, regardless of the reason. Additionally, by releasing a player under an amnesty clause provision, the team exercising the clause may have the ability to reduce its luxury tax bill