NBA Season in Jeopardy as Players Reject Last Offer
In a move that was widely expected, the NBA Players Association voted down commissioner David Stern’s most recent collective bargaining agreement proposal on Monday.
The players also decided to move to disband the union, which paves the way for antitrust lawsuits against the league and puts the entire 2011-12 season in jeopardy.
"Going forward, collective bargaining will not be how this process continues for us," union president Derek Fisher said following Monday’s meeting in New York. "We'll let our legal team really lead the charge."
The next move is on Stern and the NBA owners. Stern has said the offers to the players will get worse from here. Stern proposed a 50-50 revenue split of the basketball-related income and a 72-game game schedule late last week, but there were lots of loopholes in the proposal to protect the owners throughout the 10-year life of the agreement.
The players were not willing to concede as much, especially with no concessions from the owners’ side on the salary cap system that is moving toward a hard cap.
Both sides appear to be digging in for a long fight. It will be interesting to see which the players or owners blink first. Negotiations do seem to favor the owners, because with no seasons the players lose an entire year of salary and a season of their careers they will never get back.
"I want to answer this diplomatically. The next time we meet to discuss anything, we'll be discussing the 47 percent proposal," he told the Associated Press on Saturday. "This is it. We've been negotiating this for 2 1/2 years. The owners authorized a revised proposal, and they said if it's not acceptable and they want to keep negotiating, we present them with a 47 percent, flex cap proposal. They know it."
NBA fans are understandably upset about the latest developments and took to their Twitter accounts to express their outrage.
"No NBA this season?!?? Sh*t just got real! SMH," tweeted Travis Porter.
Terry Crews, star of The Family Crews, wrote: "Ball so hard/ Dat ish CRAY No NBA?/ Ball so hard/ Owner's order Season delayed..."
@danidvo82 - Whats sad about this #nonba is that they have a choice to still be millionaires. Live for today n play! Tomar isnt promised. #nbabet
@VictoriousUnit - #NBAbet No NBA @NBA & ball-players are making me sick! Arguing bout millions will teacher make noting. Be for real! They lost my support!!
@AliyahCherrisse - @BET Just like the owners of the @NBA @NBPA has 2 support their families & uphold a lifestyle so does the players»the true workers #NBAbet
@_alissablue - @BET this is not ok I absolutely need to see my@celtics play #NBALockdown #nbabet
@MiddleNameLEIF - on the topic of profit, how can owners expect a system that guarentees a profit? in what world is ANY BUSINESS guarenteed profit? #nonba
@Kuresa42 - Its a shame that NBA players make all that $$ and can't come to an agreement #smh #NoNBA
@AyoMattD - Good job NBA! Millionaires and billionaires arguing about making more money! #NoNBA
@_Paradice - #nonba ...i new the deal wasnt goin to work. The nba players are greedy af!
@Colbert_The_2nd - @NBA Commissioner David Stern perhaps might be the Most Wanted Man in the world right now #NoNBA
@scottestewart - Honestly no one cares about the NBA. they're all 1 percenters. #NoNBA #OWS
What do you think? Should the season be canceled?
Contact Terrance Harris at terrancefharris@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @Terranceharris
(Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESSAP)
