Lockout Now a Real Possibility

After things were looking good for NBA referees, now a lockout is said to be “unavoidable”:

After rejecting the league’s latest offer by a vote of 57-0 at its meeting in Chicago on Wednesday night, the union offered counterproposals Thursday in which it claimed to have made $1 million in additional financial concessions.

But the sides remained at an impasse, lead union negotiator Lamell McMorris said, over the same retirement benefits issue that caused commissioner David Stern to abruptly end a formal bargaining session nine days earlier.

“It looks like a lockout is both imminent and unavoidable,” McMorris said. “We have suspended dialogue again today. We’ve been in constant communication, but it’s not going to happen.”

Referee training camp — whatever that is — is scheduled to start Sunday, but the 57 NBA referees will not attend if there isn’t an agreement in principle by then.