Franchise owners divided over several points in the proposed CBA: NBA Report
When the National Basketball Players Association and owners sat together on September 13 to negotiate on the new CBA, fans were hoping for a breakthrough.
However, they were left disappointed once again as the meeting between the owners and players ended without any resolution. The general perception after the meeting was that the owners and the NBA player are on the same page and
that’s what is actually hampering a solution.
However, players union President Derek Fisher revealed a totally different story. In an email, Fisher wrote that the players should not believe everything they heard because the current rumours of rift between the players and owners
in the last meeting were not true.
Fisher told that the rift was actually between the owners themselves, who were divided on few points of the deal and they are close to fall apart on this significant issue in the NBA lockout. This latest news was a mammoth moment
for the NBA players, who came under little stress when the league sued some of their representatives in the court of law after the first meeting.
According to the sources the owners and league Commissioner David Stern were close to accept the players new offer in which they were ready to take less amount of the revenue earned from the basketball income and at a point it
seemed that the two sides are almost on brink to save the next season.
However, the things got out of hands when the owners held their own discussion after meeting with the players. During that discussion two owners (Dan Gilbert of Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns' Robert Sarver) showed no flexibility
and opposed points of the deal.
The sources also told that the New York Knicks' owner James Dolan and the Los Angeles Lakers' Jerry Buss were evidently aggravated by the rigid demands of Gilbert and Sarver. This gave way to a huge disagreement between the different
owners and now the only way left for them to turn things around for them is to iron out the problem themselves.
The disagreement was not just found among the owners, players are also having variances in their approach towards this issue. As, there are some players, who are forcing Fisher and others to decertify the union and drag the league
in the court on individual basis.
To sort this issue Fisher wrote a letter to the players in which he challenged the intentions of such agents, who want to decertify the NBPA.
In that letter Fisher wrote, "What would be appreciated by the 400-plus players would be the support of our agents and constructive ideas, suggestions and solutions that are in our best interests. Not the push for a drastic move
that leaves their players without a union, without pensions, without health care. We just aren't there."
On the other hand, even after these latest developments players’ union Executive Director Billy Hunter believes that the league could still lose half of the next season. While the NBA followers believe that it’s time now when owners
and players should end this madness and move forward towards a resolution, as the current issue had damaged the prestige of this game a great deal.
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