Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes drops a 50/50 BRI hint – NBA Update
Matt Barnes recently sat down for an interview to talk about the NBA lockout and he had some interesting things to say. The Los Angeles Lakers forward spoke about disillusionment of the players with the NBA’s negotiating tactics
and also suggested that the players were itching to get back on the courts.
"It's a tough situation.” Barnes said of the lockout while talking to ESPN.
The lockout that began on July 1st over a disagreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is now into its 5th month. Pre-season has been lost and NBA Commissioner David Stern recently cancelled
regular season games for the month of November.
Federal negotiator George Cohen supervised talks between the two sides for sometime but he too failed to bridge the gap. With talks now suspended, Barnes revealed that the some players are considering taking a bad deal because
the lockout could affect their families.
“You always have to look out for yourself and your family, so a lot of guys from what I've been hearing, and whispers, a lot of guys think 50/50 [as a split of Basketball Related Income] is good, and let's get back to work.” He
said.
That is in contrast to what the National Basketball Players Association have been pursuing, as they don’t want to make unwarranted concessions to the NBA. Barnes is a teammate of Derek Fisher, who is the President of the NBPA,
and told ESPN that the union is determined to get a fair deal.
“But I've been consistently talking to Fish, and some of the other guys on the board, and we think it's important to stay together and push for that 52," Barnes said. "We're pretty close, hopefully we can get that and get moving.
But you can't really knock anybody for a move they may have to make for their family, or a move they may have to make for themselves, because financially, this is really our only income."
Those comments are especially interesting given the context of what has transpired over the last few days. Talks between the two sides collapsed on Friday when Commissioner Stern once again failed to show flexibility on the BRI
issue.
Union executive director Billy Hunter walked out of the meeting and there were reports that Derek Fisher might not have been on the same page as him. Both of them have since rejected rumours of a rift, but now Barnes has revealed
that some players might consider taking a 50-50 split.
On the other hand, trouble is brewing within the ranks of NBA owners as well. Larger market owners are believed to want the lockout to end, but have been out voted by smaller market teams. Micky Arison, of the Miami Heat, posted
some revealing comments on twitter Friday night which exposed the turmoil with the league’s owners. He has since deleted the comments and but did it after having to sustain a massive $ 5, 00,000 fine.
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