The NBA announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with the NBA Players Association of the recent arbitration proceeding filed on behalf of Chauncey Billups, J.J. Hickson, Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak.

Under the settlement, the union agreed to limit the scope of the ruling by arbitrator Kenneth Dam in exchange for the league's agreement to drop its appeal. The rule will now be that players who are claimed from waivers will have the same "Early Bird" rights as if they had been traded, but will not have full "Bird" rights unless they are claimed through the league's amnesty procedure.

Below are the players on whose behalf the arbitration proceeding was brought and their status when free agency opens on July 1:

Chauncey Billups - Bird
J.J. Hickson - Bird
Jeremy Lin - Early Bird 
Steve Novak - Early Bird 

Negotiations are ongoing but two sources briefed on the talks tell the New York Times that the NBA and players union are moving closer to an agreement that would resolve the dispute between the two sides over whether any Bird rights would remain attached to players claimed off waivers.

An arbitrator ruled in the union's favor and the league office announced its intention to appeal the ruling, which would create uncertainty just when teams are set to begin contract discussions with the affected players.

A settlement would likely grant some form of Bird rights to players claimed off waivers.  An agreement could be announced Friday but no later than Sunday at midnight when free agency officially opens.

The matter is particularly important to the Knicks who could be granted new exceptions to sign Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak.  Chauncey Billups and J.J. Hickson are also impacted by the rule.

"They're not going into free agency with this out there," said one person with knowledge of the negotiations.

David Stern plans to appeal arbitrator Kenneth Dam’s decision, which granted Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak “Early Bird” rights when they become free agents July 1.

As it stands, the Knicks will be able to re-sign both players without using their midlevel or lower-level exceptions.

Stern’s appeal may carry over into the July 1 start of free agency, which could delay the Knicks’ ability to negotiate with free agents.

Miami received $3.37 million from the playoff pool for winning the 2012 Finals.

The Thunder earned almost $2.6 million from the league's $13 million playoff pool. The Thunder got slightly more than $1.5 million for being the losing team in the NBA Finals.

Pending a possible appeal by the league office, the players union has won a "complete victory" from the arbitrator in a challenge to the NBA's interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement rule.

The union sought to ensure that teams that acquire players via the waiver claim process would retain the same Bird rights as when those players are acquired via trade.  The NBA argued that a player's Bird rights should be re-set at the time of the waiver claim.

The ruling could have the strongest impact on the off-season plans of the Knicks, who would not have to use any of their signing exceptions to retain Jeremy Lin or Steve Novak.

Also helped by the ruling would be Chauncey Billups and J.J. Hickson, whose rights would remain with the Clippers and Trail Blazers, respectively.

The NBA reportedly plans to appeal the ruling, which would create uncertainty over the impending free agency of the affected players.  The CBA dictates that an arbitrator's decision will not take effect until any appeals process runs its course. 

Mitch Kupchak admitted that the new, tougher rules governing the luxury tax will make it difficult for the Lakers to improve via free agency.

“I’d be surprised if we’re going to be very active,” Kupchak said of the impending free agency period. “Only because of the limitations on this franchise resulting from the collective bargaining agreement. ... You might not be able to really go out there and dramatically improve your team with a $1 million player or a $3 million player. But there’s value out there and we’ll search for it.”

Los Angeles is well over the salary cap, with just the mini-mid-level exception, veteran’s minimum and an $8.9 million trade exception at its disposal.

“Wouldn’t that be nice if a team gave us a player making $9 million or less to improve our team?” Kupchak said. “Obviously, the chances of that are not good. We’d probably have to move something back in the other direction just as good to make the other team happy. However, there are occurrences where teams look to get rid of a player that maybe doesn’t fit in or sometimes the trade exception can be used to make a more complicated trade. So it’s valuable to have, but it’s not like you can go out and sign a player making $9 million.”

The NBA is considering a "postgame analysis" to penalize players for flopping, according to David Stern.

The NBA already reviews flagrant fouls to determine if its ruling should be upgraded or downgraded.

The competition committee met on Monday to discuss ways in which excessive flopping can be prevented.

The purchase of the New Orleans Hornets by Tom Benson was completed today after having been approved by the National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors. Per league policy, the terms of the transaction were not released. Tom Benson is now officially the new owner of the New Orleans Hornets.

In conjunction with the finalization of the ownership transaction, the Hornets’ lease extension with the State has been approved by Governor Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana legislature. The extension will keep the Hornets in New Orleans long term, as well as provide funding for upgrades to the New Orleans Arena. The agreement also included the elimination of all exit options, attendance benchmarks, and financial inducements.

David Stern equated flopping with trickery and said the competition committee will discuss ways to eliminate its prevalence. 

"Flopping almost doesn't do it justice," Stern said Tuesday just prior to the start of the NBA Finals. "Trickery. Deceit designed to cause the game to be decided other than on its merits. We'll be looking at that.

"We'll be looking at a number of things that make it easier for us to say to our fans what we all know to be true: Our referees want to get everything right."

The committee will also consider expanding instant replay.

The NBA is not allowing players traded before the 11-12 season to sign with their old teams for one whole year.

Players formerly had to wait one month before rejoining teams that traded them, which created a loophole for teams to re-sign buyouts.

The one-year rule will not be bent to allow for the lockout-shortened season.

Lamar Odom, for example, would have to miss six weeks of the season if he wanted to join the Lakers in December.