Erica McKinley has been hired by the NBPA as its chief operating officer.

McKinley has been a practicing attorney for more than 17 years. She previously was the Chief of General Litigation and General Counsel for the Department of Human Services in the Washington office of the Attorney General.

McKinley replaces Domonique Foxworth.

The NBA will put a sponsored 3.25-inch-by-1.6-inch patch with a Kia Motors Corp. logo on the upper left chest of player jerseys for both the 2016 and 2017 All-Star games.

The patch is part of an advertising buy between Turner Sports and Kia.

The patch will also appear on All-Star jerseys available for retail.

Jersey ads in the U.S. are fraught with logistical complications, including finding sponsors that satisfy all parties and determining how to divide the revenue among leagues, team owners and broadcasters.

By debuting sponsor patches on All-Star jerseys, the NBA was able to sidestep a few hurdles, like bypassing approval for from team owners. 

ESPN cut approximately four percent of their workforce in layoffs last week with the rising cost of television rights fees cited as a contributing factor.

The NBA's new deal has increased by 143 percent, while the MLB's increased by 136 percent.

“The cost of goods is going up and sales are going down,” one longtime industry executive observed. “That’s not a good trend.”

Many past and present employees place most of the blame for the layoffs on the company’s huge NFL, MLB and NBA rights deals. 

ESPN pays $1.9 billion per year for their NFL contract, which is $800 million more than the next biggest deal to broadcast football.

“It’s been a total mismanagement of rights fees, starting with the NFL renewal,” said one former employee. “We overpaid significantly when it did not need to be that way, and it set the template to overpay for MLB and the NBA.”

“You can’t keep spending on rights at high levels when the business model and fundamentals have changed,” another former ESPN employee said.

Television rights have increased with the competition of NBC Sports Network and Fox Sports 1.

The NBA and NBPA will begin negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement in November. 

Michele Roberts has been meeting monthly for lunch with Adam Silver.

"We are about to launch into substantive CBA discussions," Roberts said. "Hopefully, the good faith that we look forward to bringing into the discussions will continue. I cannot complain. I have not found [Silver] on the surface to be anything but quite earnest."

The NBA's new nine-year, $24 billion media rights deal with ESPN and Turner Sports will dramatically increase player salaries and revenues for owners.

Silver "says he does not want a work stoppage," Roberts said. "And I said, 'You know what, neither do we.' We have that common ground. … I wasn't there, but I've been told and I read, that during the last negotiations that the owners were very clear that there would be a substantial reduction modification of the [basketball-related income]. I guess they were serious because they locked the players out before they got what they wanted. That's not how we are beginning these negotiations.

"I've not been given what is essentially an ultimatum from the owners, nor have we gone to the owners with an ultimatum. That is not where we view where we are right now. And so that gives me reason to think that no one is saying, 'Look we need this or we walk, or I need this or we lock you out.' We're starting at a place where we are not going to be strident about things."

Silver, however, also said in the offseason that there are NBA teams still losing money.

"I'm assuming that is information given to him by owners," Roberts said. "I don't think he's making it up. That's information that is conveyed to him. I don't know that he believes it. I assume he does because he said [it]. I don't believe it.

"And what I mean to say is I don't want to say people are lying. … It may be that [teams] didn't have a positive [financial result]. But to say that therefore that the value of their franchise is in anyway diminished is a different question. C'mon, this game is exploding in terms of popularity and revenue."

With the salary cap increasing for the 16-17 season to $89 million, NBA teams could have a combined $1.07 billion in cap space for 2016 free agents.

NBA players are guaranteed to earn just over $3 billion during that season as their share of basketball related income and only $1.6 billion of that is currently committed. This means owners will need to spend an additional $1.4 billion on player salaries.

There are three teams that could free up more than $60 million in cap space without making any additional trades or cuts.

Michele Roberts earned a salary of $1.2 million in her first year as Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association.

Roberts was hired to replace Billy Hunter.

The salary of Adam Silver is unknown, but it was believed David Stern was earning more than $20 million per year late in his tenure as commissioner.