National Basketball Association players, who were paid anaverage of about $5 million last season, will be forced for thefirst time to save money for retirement.

Players in the league this past season will receive $34 million,or 1 percent of what the league and union call basketball-relatedincome, to be invested in an annuity, union attorney Ron Klempnersaid.

Details of the plan, such as which annuity will be chosen or howthe money will be distributed, need to be worked out, Klempnersaid.

“We know that it'll deliver good, fair returns,” he said in atelephone interview.

The program is part of the 10-year collective bargainingagreement between the NBA and the players union that ended alockout in November.

Former NBA players Scottie Pippen, Latrell Sprewell and AntoineWalker are among retired professional athletes who have experiencedfinancial difficulty after careers in which they earned tens ofmillions of dollars. Walker filed for bankruptcy after being paidmore than $100 million over 12 years in the NBA.

“It's a start,” player agent Keith Glass said in a telephoneinterview. “It does force you to save something, and that's a goodidea.”

Retired players can access the money before their pensions beginat age 50. Players can take an early pension at 45, Klempnersaid.

Basketball-related income in the NBA will top $4 billion nextseason, meaning the amount of forced savings also will rise.

Beginning next season, players also will surrender 5 percent to10 percent of their salary for retirement. They automatically willbe enrolled in the program and would have to opt-out to keep fromparticipating in the plan, Klempner said.

Investment details for that plan aren't complete, Klempnersaid.

Bloomberg News

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