Amid the promise of the 2010-11 NBA season, there's a very dark cloud cloud hanging over everything: the possibility of a lockout prior to the 2011-12 season. In recent weeks, that cloud has gotten even darker. Now, in what may be the most worrysome sign yet, NBA Player Association executive director Billy Hunter said in an interview with Howard Beck of the New York Times that, at this point, there is a "99 percent chance" there will be a lockout next season.
"I'd be 99 percent sure as of today that there will be a lockout," Billy Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, said in an interview at his Harlem office. "I've said, ‘Save your money because in all probability there's going to be a lockout.'
Hunter tells Beck that no meetings between the owners and the players union are scheduled, since each side has completely rejected the other's proposal. The owners want major changes, including a move to a hard salary cap and a 40-percent reduction in player salaries, saving them $750-$800 million. Hunter and the players' union, predictably, isn't going for that. Hunter said the proposal is like the owners "beat me up and take my lunch," and called it "unreasonable," "extreme" and "intractable."
Hunter said he is willing to accept modest cutbacks on the 57-percent share of Basketball-Related Income the players currently get, as well as modest cutbacks on player salaries, but was emphatic that the union will never go for the owners' proposal.
Hunter called the league's proposal "extreme" and the owners "intractable," and he said if the league maintained its stance, then "the distance I think is just too great to move."
"Because we're going to stay where we are," he said.
Of course, the last time an extended lockout happened in 1999, the owners' hawkish ways eventually overcame the players' inability to sustain themselves financially. Hunter is determined not to let that happen this time, saying he has a "$175 million war chest" to help players in need during the inevitable lockout.
It's still early, but clearly, the dispute is getting serious.
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lockout
who cares if there is a lockout? maybe,the overpaid players will have to spend some of their surplus while wanting more.
by jim59 on Nov 24, 2010 5:55 AM EST reply actions
Why all the player hate?
I never understood why fans seem to always take the side of owners in labor disputes. Its millionaires vs billionaires basically. Players are paid based on their market value at the time of free agency and/or the intelligence (or lack thereof) of the owner or GM’s. Over the last 15-20 years the players have given the owners a rookie pay scale, a luxury tax, shorter contracts, taken pay cuts and yet its still not enough. The NBA is back and better than ever. Interest in the league is very high and tv ratings are up. Merchandise continues to sell yet all we hear from the owners is how much money they’re losing. I dont buy it for one minute and I think the players should hold their ground. A lockout would be a terrible blow at this point but I think the players have given back quite a bit over the last decade or so. They even gave the owners a dress code. What more can they give?
by LakerKev on Nov 26, 2010 12:36 PM EST reply actions
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