Is The NBA Trying to Scare the Players Union?

Tom Ziller of NBA Fanhouse (and Sactown Royalty, more importantly) wonders whether the NBA is using this situation to send a message to its players:

The facts certainly imply this is a scare job: Stein reports the league is pushing for a $3.2 million reduction of the total ref budget (a 10% cut), while the refs have said they will give up no more than $2.5 million (or 7.8%) total. That zone of disagreement -- $700,000 -- is, of course, small potatoes. It equates to some 0.02% of the total NBA revenue pot. [...]

It's not that the refs today or the players tomorrow are necessarily right -- it's just got to be a bad feeling to see a megalith like the NBA threaten a lockout over a measly $700,000 (assuming Stein's figures are correct). The fact that the referee budget (which includes salary, travel, playoff bonuses, health benefits, pension payments) is only $32 million -- the equivalent of five players making the average NBA salary -- is a bit jarring. Our game is in these referees' hands, and they can affect each and every game ... and combined they make about half of what the Bobcats make.

So again, we come to that 700,000 number. It's not very much money for the NBA to be worried about, and yet, David Stern is making cryptic statements about "valuing referees" and there are no meetings scheduled for the future. Plus, as Ziller points out, you could make a case that NBA referees are underpaid as is. That the NBA is refusing to budge certainly seems to encompass a good measure of symbolism; these are hard times, even for what Ziller calls a "megalith." And David Stern is not going to bullied, here, there, or most importantly, during next year's labor discussions.

That much is becoming clear.