Can some one explain how NBA contract can still be valid if a team doesn't pay?

There's probably a clause either in the contract or some other forms for entering the league that the contract is void during a lockout or something.

 

The biggest issue is if wherever they do play doesn't cover their contract insurance, because i believe if they're uninsured, it ends up breaching their contract.

 

A lockout is a permissable action by an owner(s) in a unionised industry....just as workers may strike, it's the owners equivalent of a strike (it's only fair it works both ways).

It's btw, why there was the 'nuclear option' of decertification, you can't impose a lockout under anti trust law, which is what you fall under if you become non union workers.