Chauncey Billups ready to sacrifice for a fair CBA – NBA Update
NBA veteran Chauncey Billups has said that he will be willing to sit out the whole NBA season if that is required for the players to get a fair new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Billups confirmed he is willing to undertake the drastic step, and bear the massive financial hit, only because he wants the younger lot in NBA to have a better future.
Billups has been a vocal supporter of unity among NBA players during the current lockout, which began on July 1st. The lockout is already into its 5th month and a whole month worth of NBA games have been lost.
It now looks as if the whole season could be wiped out before the two sides can come to an agreement, and Chauncey has said he wouldn’t think twice if the players really were left with that option.
"For the betterment of the league going forward, that's just something that I'm going to have to sacrifice and that's kind of the position I'm in," Billups said on ESPN New York 1050's "The Stephen A. Smith Show."
Those are strong words from a man reaching the end of his career.
Billups statement can be put in better perspective by looking at his history and current NBA contract. The 35 year old is in the last year of a deal around $60 million and was set to make over $14 million this season. He has always
been a good player but never one to have been financially compensated like the bigger stars.
So if he is willing to forego the biggest pay check in his life, it will definitely send a resounding message among the NBA players, and a warning to the NBA owners.
"I'm willing to fight with the union," Billups said. "Do I want to lose $14 million or whatever it might be? I don't want to lose a dime. My career is almost over. I want all of that.”
Chauncey revealed that his principle motivation was not to let the greedy NBA owners exploit the young players coming into the league. The New York Knicks point guard is of the view that the owners are in the wrong and their greed
has caused an NBA lockout.
He would fold, but he knows too well what is at stake. He has also drawn inspiration from the 1998 NBA lockout. Billups was a young player back then and saw the older lot fighting for his cause even at personal expenditure. Now
the roles are reversed, and Chauncey isn’t going to back down for his cause.
But at the same time, I was in that other lockout (in 1998-99) and I know what those older guys were willing to do for me. ... I'm in that position now and that's where I stand."
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