The NBA and the players’ union have a chance to redefine the draft. This ain’t it.

Last weekend, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the NBA and players’ union had hit an impasse over certain changes to the amateur draft process while negotiating the end of the age minimum.

The NBA has committed to unwinding the age minimum established in 2005 that created the one-and-done era in college basketball, to no perceptible benefit of the pro league. But that change needs to be bargained with the union. So, the NBA is taking the opportunity to push for some additional, pro-league tweaks around the draft, suggesting that ending the age minimum is a union initiative.

While doing so has always been a union preference, it’s never been a union priority because 18-year-olds aren’t actually represented. Heck, that’s why it exists in the first place! The players’ union didn’t care enough in 2005 to actually fight it, and didn’t care enough in 2011 or 2015-16 to roll it back. (The union did fight against extending it to age 20. Kudos, I guess.)

What exactly is the NBA trying to tie to the end of the age minimum, then? A rookie scale shift to more closely align production with pay? Tweaks to further decrease the incentive to fail for teams? The addition of the third round and further development of the G League as a true minor league system?

Nope. The NBA is fighting for universal access to prospect medical records and elite prospect participation in the NBA draft combine. And the union is actually fighting back at the behest of agents.

This is ridiculous and small. It puts the lie to the claims that the NBA and players’ union are actually on the same page on, well, anything when it comes to growing the game.

Yes, the two sides avoided labor drama in 2016 by reaching a status quo collective bargaining agreement in late 2015. That was great for the league’s fans, franchisees, and players. The NBA could have pushed for additional cuts to the players’ share of salary as the league’s broadcast revenue boomed, but didn’t. The players could have tried to claw back some of 2011’s giveaways, but didn’t. Peace allowed the NBA’s cultural and financial ascent to continue.

But there’s little evidence that the two sides are working together on a deep level to improve the state of the league. The cap-smoothing fiasco that led to the one-time spike in the summer of 2016 one. The continued, years-long struggle to negotiate an end to the age minimum is another.

The union pushing back on all teams having access to a basic pool medical report on prospects’ health is absurd. The situation now is that prospects’ agents pick and choose which teams receive medical info on their prospects. This weaponizes X-rays and EKGs into tools to avoid certain teams in the draft. It’s actually a perversion of the point of the draft. While I think the draft should be abolished in favor of highly regulated rookie free agency, this is the system we have. Imbalance in information that should be universally available is a bug, not a feature.

The truth is that agents have little power to steer prospects to target franchises. Withholding medical info is a key tool. But it’s ridiculous that they have that power. The NBA is right to attempt to snatch it away.

The combine directive is more circumspect. Woj reports the NBA wants all prospects to show up to the combine to get measurements and run drills, not play in the 5-on-5 scrimmages. For years, top prospects have skipped the endeavor, instead working out individually for specific teams. The league seems to be arguing that just as all teams deserve full, clear medical information about the prospects, they deserve universal info on measurements and drill results.

But that’s not a reasonable argument, that athletic performance measures are of the same important as medical data. The measurements perhaps could qualify, but forcing prospective No. 1 picks into cattle call shuttle runs for all 30 teams (27 or so of which have no shot at landing him) just for the sake of it? That seems like a stretch.

The resolution: the union should agree to universal access to pool medical reports completed by independent NBA-hired (and union approved) doctors. This should include basic physical measurements, including height, weight, standing reach, and wingspan. It shouldn’t include any athletic measures like vertical leap or lane agility. Competing at the combine should remain at prospects’ discretion.

In the meantime, the union should be looking for ways to boost the number of player careers by growing G League salaries or adding additional two-way roster slots, while the league should be finding opportunities to make salary more efficient by aligning production with pay.

There have to be some bold compromises that can truly improve the NBA instead of this piddly stuff. If labor peace is truly here, show us by reaching deals to improve the league instead of quarreling over little things.