Mark Bartelstein blames NBA owners for breakdown in the labour negotiations – NBA Update
Renowned NBA player agent Mark Bartelstein has fired a volley at the NBA owners, accusing them of unfair demands and misguiding the public in the NBA lockout.
The agent represents over a dozen NBA stars and is one of the most influential ones in the league.
After David Stern criticized the agents for speaking out against his latest proposal, a take it or leave it deal that the players have since rejected, Bartelstein decided to return the favour on Sunday night.
He revealed in an interview that the owners’ greed in the current negotiations knew no bounds as they continued to make demand after demand from the players. He further said that even though the players have accepted most of them,
the owners are not satisfied as they appear consumed by greed.
"A negotiation is supposed to be about making trades," Bartelstein said in an interview with CBSSports. "The biggest part of any negotiation is the dollars. That's the biggest part of this negotiation. The players are giving the
owners the dollars.”
His comments were directed at the fact that players have taken a massive cut in their share of the Basketball Related Income. Under the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, NBA players were entitled to 57 percent of the BRI,
but players showed a willingness to go down to 54 percent at first, then 52 percent and then even lower in their bid to save the NBA season.
The owners however still want more, and they are not willing to give anything at all in return. The players have made concessions in all other departments as well and are just asking for some relief on system issues, but the owners
don’t have the heart to give it to them.
Instead, they keep pointing at their supposed $300 million losses last season and say they have to take away the freedom of players in order to maintain competitive balance.
Bartelstein believes that to be a lie because competitive balance can easily be achieved by revenue sharing. However NBA Commissioner David Stern and the owners won’t even discuss revenue sharing because the larger market owners
are against it.
“If the owners are concerned about competitive balance, it can absolutely be handled through revenue sharing. And the myth they're putting out there that they can't share losses, there's no truth to that argument whatsoever. Revenue
sharing has nothing to do with sharing profits and losses. It's about making sure low-revenue teams can have more revenue so they can be more competitive and you can have a better product.”
The owners though refuse to consider such a system and instead are focused on draining all the money from the players. He players had been conceding ground to them throughout the summer for the sake of the season, but now appear
to have made a stand.
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