Milwaukee Bucks’ Luc Mbah a Moute believes only a fair deal will lead to a settlement: NBA Update
Since NBA abandoned the first two weeks of the regular season games, there has been a common perception that the owners and players association will start to feel the pressure as time passes by. However Milwaukee Bucks combo forward Luc Mbah a Moute has clearly stated that the players are sticking to their guns and a deal will not be finalized until the league’s owners show some flexibility.
The 25-year-old was among the 30 players who attended the Friday’s meeting. In that meeting, the president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Derek Fisher and Executive Director Billy Hunter updated the players on the current negotiation scenario with regards to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
While giving an interview on Monday, October 17, Mbah a Moute said that although the pressure is on both the parties now to converge onto a settlement, however, there are still a bunch of things that have to be worked out on. To sort those issues, the players union and the NBA owners will now meet on Tuesday, October 18, in the presence of a federal mediator, George Cohen.
"There are still a whole lot of things that need to be worked out in the system. It's still very different from what we want. We'll see what happens. I have to believe anything extra could move the process. As long as we're meeting, it's a good thing."
One of the major issues in the negotiation process is the division of the Basketball Related Income (BRI). According to the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the players were earning 57 percent of the revenue. However the owners claim that they have been bearing heavy losses under the previous setup and forced the lockout upon the expiration of the previous contract.
In the weeks that followed, players association decided to drop down their share of revenue to 53, but the NBA owners proposed a 53-47 split in their favour, which was naturally unacceptable for the players’ association.
"We made a lot of concessions to the owners. We went back from 57 to 53, and you're talking about huge money right there. We hope they will come back and negotiate in good faith." Mbah a Moute said.
There are also other issues such as contract length, luxury tax payment method and salary cap structure and as such there has been no agreement whatsoever. To hope that the two sides will be able to address their differences on Tuesday therefore remains a wild hope.
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