LeBron James wants to be more involved in NBA labour negotiations – Lockout Update
Miami Heat superstar LeBron James is concerned about the ongoing NBA labour dispute and has said in a recent interview that he would definitely like to be more involved in the negotiations. The NBA owners and players are locked in a bitter dispute over a new CBA and James said he would like to be present when the talks took place between the two sides.
James, one of the biggest names in basketball, plays for the Miami Heat. The player, like most of his colleagues, is committed to the National Basketball Players Association and the negotiating process being undertaken by President Derek Fisher and Executive Director Billy Hunter.
However James conceded he does want to be more involved but his other commitments don’t allow that. LeBron does though get regular feedback on the negotiations through his teammate at the Miami Heat, James Jones, as well as long time friend and New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul.
“I wish I could be more involved personally, but one my friends, Chris Paul, is on the board, my teammate James Jones is also on the board, so they are there at every meeting and they update on everything that’s going on. I wish I could be there more but I have a busy schedule, I can’t be there as much as I want to but they give me enough insight info to know what’s going on.” James said in the interview.
He need not be overly worried about missing negotiating sessions because there haven’t been many since the lockout began on July 1st. NBA owners and the players union have met just once since the lockout began and neither side showed any flexibility in their pre-lockout stances during the meeting.
It is believed that the players wanted the NBA Commissioner David Stern to come up with a new proposal but the request was declined by the league. A talk’s session was therefore cancelled by the two sides.
Major differences between the two sides include hard salary caps, non-guaranteed contracts and the split of the BRI. The Basketball Related Income is currently split 57-43 in the favour of the players but the league wants to bring that down drastically.
The NBPA naturally doesn’t agree to it. Hence the lockout is set to drag on for quite a while and many analysts believe the matter could in the end be resolved in a federal court.
LeBron James though is one of the few people still optimistic enough to believe that a new CBA would be in place before the season begins. Maybe he should go into some of the meetings to get a clear picture of the situation.
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