David Stern denies that the fear of litigation forced the deal – NBA Update
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that the tentative agreement reached with the players over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) wasn’t a result of fear of litigation.
The National Basketball Players Association had disbanded almost two weeks ago and players subsequently filed class action antitrust lawsuits against the owners, a positive result in which could have cost the owners a hefty sum.
At that time, Stern had issued an ultimatum to the NBPA with a take it or leave it offer, while he also refused to engage in further negotiations.
Since the players had made numerous concessions already, they decided to reject Stern’s ultimatum and instead proceeded to sue the owners.
Fast forward to this past Monday and the NBA made secret contract with attorneys of the players union and within days have come to an agreement over a new deal.
Still, Stern maintains that he wasn’t worried about the litigation, owners made the deal because they cared about the players and the fans.
"For us the litigation is something that just has to be dealt with," Stern said. "It was not the reason for the settlement. The reason for the settlement was we've got fans, we've got players who would like to play and we've got
others who are dependent on us.”
He added that from the onset the owners only wanted a deal that was fair for both sides.
“And it's always been our goal to reach a deal that was fair to both sides and get us playing as soon as possible, but that took a little time.”
His statement is contrary to comments coming from former players and analysts, such as Charles Barkley and Isiah Thomas, over the past week that owners were being too greedy and pushing players into a corner with their harsh negotiating
tactic. Most commentators also blamed the owners for causing the lockout to linger on thus far.
The owners had indeed pursued a very hard bargain right from the onset and when the NBPA disbanded after rejecting Stern’s proposal, he declared that the NBA would now enter a “nuclear winter”.
However, the next day several players filed two separate lawsuits against the NBA, one in San Francisco and another in Minnesota. Attorney David Boies, who had represented the NFL and lost when they were sued by NFLPA, represented
the NBA players this time around and predicted that the NBA would lose the case.
If the court ruled against the owners in lawsuits filed by players, the owners would have to pay up around $6 billion as players had demanded “treble damages”. Fast forward just around 10 or 11 days and the NBA has agreed a tentative
deal and included many clauses that it simply refused to discuss just two weeks ago.
Still, Stern insists it was all for the fans.
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