Michael Beasley labels NBA labour negotiations as ‘retarded’ – NBA Update
Minnesota Timberwolves star Michael Beasley has labelled the NBA labour negotiations as retarded. The young forward was pelting his frustration with the NBA lockout after appearing in a charity game in Oklahoma.
The game was organized by Oklahoma City Thunder super star and two time reigning NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant. Beasley shined brightly during the game, finishing with a game high 56 points. The game itself was a thriller as
it finished in overtime at 176 – 171, but the real fireworks came afterwards from Beasley, who blasted the negotiations.
"Fighting over 3 percent, that's kind of retarded to me," said Michael Beasley, "But it is what is. We'll come to an agreement."
The Minnesota forward urged both sides to come to an agreement as quickly as possible.
"The quicker we can get a deal done, the better," he added. "Like I've been saying before, the main ones suffering are our fans."
The NBA lockout began on July 1st after the old Collective Bargaining Agreement expired. The league and the National Basketball Players Association have met repeatedly since then to try and find common ground.
Last week head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, George Cohen, mediated talks but failed to get the two sides to agree on a final deal. The sticking point remained 3 percentage points mentioned by Beasley.
The NBA wants a 50-50 split of the Basketball Related Income, the NBPA is only willing to go down to 53 percent, or 52.5 percent in according to the latest reports. That is where the two sides stand and with 100 regular season
games already lost, more are expected to follow if they not budge.
Beasley was frustrated at not being able to play, but said he was even more upset because of the fans. Beasley said the two sides were fighting over the split of the money that their fan base brings it, yet they were making those
very people suffer with their bickering.
"It's for the fans. Basketball's a getaway, a getaway for a lot of people, and right now with the lockout, they can't get away," Beasley said as he pledged to try and ease the effects of the NBA lockout by holding as many exhibition
games for the fans as possible. "We're going to do games like this for as long as possible as much as possible."
Oklahoma City Thunder star James Harden joined in the chorus and attacked NBA owners for refusing to lower their demands. He opined that the NBPA had already come down from 57 to 53 percent, and they were not going to go any further.
"It's just not. We set our number. We've already dropped, but we set our number at 53 and that's what we're sticking to," James Harden said.
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