NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The NBA has reached agreement  with the league’s referees on a new collective bargaining  agreement, commissioner David Stern said yesterday.  

He added that he expected referees to officiate the opening  games of the season, which start on Tuesday.  

The league has been using replacement officials in  pre-season games after the National Basketball Referees  Association (NBRA) rejected a contract offer.  

“We are looking forward to our regular referees ratifying  the agreement that we reached and being back on the court on  Tuesday,” Stern said in a teleconference.  

The NBRA was not immediately available for comment.  

Stern said he was pleased with the performance of the  replacement officials, many of whom were drawn from the  Development League and the WNBA.  

“The replacement refs have been intensively evaluated and we  think they have given us great confidence that our recruitment  and development process for future NBA referees is in very good  shape,” he said.  

“We know that we will be seeing many of the people that have  been in court as future NBA referees,” he added.