Report: New NBA CBA Bans Players From Using Hoverboards, Trampolines, Guns

Details of the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement are still leaking out in dribs and drabs, as the big-money items get the most attention (players naturally want to know how much they’ll be making, and horrified fans want to know exactly how much their team will pay on Jrue Holiday’s inevitable max contract). And, of course, the CBA’s not officially done yet; they’ve got a framework in place, the whole thing won’t be published until it’s signed and sealed.

But for now, Basketball Insiders gives a tiny glimpse at some updated language in the “prohibited activities” section:

Other areas in the deal include health insurance and an increased pension for retired players, prohibited activities (now including fireworks, firearms, jet skiing, hoverboards, trampoline jumping, etc.) and a comprehensive policy for domestic violence incidents.

Banana boats: Still OK!

The common thread among all these newly prohibited activities is, of course, the risk of injury. Fireworks blow up hands. Trampolines cause compound fractures. Guns are guns. Even J.R. Smith’s favorite in-arena conveyance of 2015, the hoverboard, can be an emergency room visit waiting to happen.

If there’s one thing NBA teams hate more than their players getting injured in non-basketball activities, it’s still having to pay those injured players. This updated CBA language merely codifies and expands prohibited activities that are already written into most player contracts, to make it that much easier to recapture some or all of a player’s salary if he seriously injures himself doing something that’s not basketball. Here are the banned activities listed in a 2010 sample NBA contract:

Accordingly, the Player agrees that he will not, without the written consent of the Team, engage in any activity that a reasonable person would recognize as involving or exposing the participant to a substantial risk of bodily injury including, but not limited to: (i) sky-diving, hang gliding, snow skiing, rock or mountain climbing (as distinguished from hiking), rappelling, and bungee jumping; (ii) any fighting, boxing, or wrestling; (iii) driving or riding on a motorcycle or moped; (iv) riding in or on any motorized vehicle in any kind of race or racing contest; (v) operating an aircraft of any kind ... (vii) participating in any game or exhibition of basketball, football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, or other team sport or competition.

Times change. Hoverboards are invented. Hoverboards are banned. It’s the circle of life.

[ Basketball Insiders]