League Owners yield over guaranteed contracts but Lockout looms large – NBA Update
The NBA labour dispute seems to be heading towards a lockout with hopes now pinned on a final sitting in New York next Tuesday.
The talks have been going on for a while now and the owners and the players sat down on Friday to try and make some headway. In the meeting that lasted 5 hours, not much meaningful progress was made, except perhaps on one issue.
The owners and NBA Commissioner David Stern have conceded the battle over guaranteed contracts. The owners wanted to remove guaranteed contracts for the players, something that prompted stringent opposition from the players union.
The owners therefore took it off the table in the hope that the players will now reciprocate by acceding to some of the demands that the owners have put forward.
Asked after the meeting if the NBA would now look for the players to give in to some of its demands so that the process could move forward, NBA Commissioner David Stern replied in the affirmative,
"I would like one. I don't want to set expectations too high."
Stern continued to state the importance of the talks scheduled for Tuesday in New York, saying significant progress would have to be made then or else the lockout could become a very real possibility, before adding that both the
owners and players will do everything they can to prevent it,
"I really think that the time to have an optimistic or pessimistic view is at the close of the day on Tuesday," Stern said. "Tuesday's a very important day in these negotiations. It's important because of the substance of our conversations
today, and because time is running out. And because both parties still remain, at least to me, intent on doing the best they can to make a deal before June 30."
The owners will now expect the players union to show some flexibility in their stance. The owners are likely to want some progress on the BRI issue. BRI stands for Basketball Related Income and currently it is split 57-43 between
the owners and players, with the players getting the larger chunk.
Also on the table is the demand for hard salary caps, another very contentious issue for the players.
A number of players attended the meeting on Friday, including Carmelo Anthony, who is not an executive member of the player’s union. The President of the National Basketball Players Association, Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher
appreciated the progress but warned that time was fast running out,
"We had several players that had opinions and made great comments ... It was good to get in there today. There's a very clear sense of urgency. But we're not sure between now and July 1 if we can make up the gulf that exists between
the two sides."
As of now, the whole Collective Bargaining agreement or CBA has come down to Tuesday’s meeting.
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