NBA To Lock Out Players
Added on Jun 30, 2011 by Jack Thurman in
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The NBA and its players failed to reach a deal in their final meetings before the collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight tonight. As a result, we’ve got another lockout but unlike the NFL lockout–reportedly nearing a resolution–this one has the sides far apart.
According to NBA Players Association head Billy Hunter, the union made one last proposal to the owners but in his words ‘the gap is just too great’. Now the league is in the same situation as their NFL counterparts–all business is on hold including free agency which would have started tonight at midnight. The last time the NBA experienced a lockout was in 1998-1999 which reduced the regular season to a 50 game schedule.
The two sides reportedly are far apart on every major issue including revenue sharing, salary caps, etc. Union executive committee member Matt Bonner said:
“We tried to avoid the lockout; unfortunately, we couldn’t reach a deal.”
The lockout isn’t officially ‘on’ until midnight, but after the two sides were unable to reach any sort of agreement during a three hour meeting on Thursday NBA Players Association head Billy Hunter said that it was all but certain:
“It’s obvious the lockout will happen tonight.”
Hunter did add that the league and the players plan to meet again within ‘the next two or three weeks’ but gave no concrete timetable or process of where the negotiations will go from here. If the NFL is any guide the next month or so will be primarily posturing from one side or another to show that they’re “serious” and not afraid of a long work stoppage. As the months go by, however, and the start dates for training camps draw closer you’ll likely see some movement. When players are faced with the reality that they might miss some paychecks and owners start considering the possibility of a shortened season, you’ll start seeing even greater movement.
In the meantime, however, there won’t be any type of player transactions including free agent signings, until a new collective bargaining agreement is finalized. As has been the case with the NFL in recent months, all of the news related to the sport will involve lawyers and negotiations.
