NBA owners and players resume talks to resolve lawsuits – NBA Lockout Update
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have decided to engage in talks in order to resolve the recently filed lawsuits against the owners, it has been reliably learnt.
Various sources have reported that the two sides agreed to talking on Monday after talks on the labour dispute had broken down earlier.
This development comes after NBA Commissioner David Stern had refused to come to the negotiating table and had issued an ultimatum deal to the union about two weeks ago. The NBPA however refused to bow down. Days after, the union
decertified and allowed players to file class action antitrust lawsuits against the owners.
The owners have since gone off the radar as far as media appearances or statements are concerned. No formal announcement was made about the talks between the two sides, which will resume on Friday after a Thanksgiving break.
Contingents made mostly of lawyers for both sides are believed to be engaging in the latest round of talks, with NBA Commissioner David Stern and NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter also present on the table. It has been reported
that NBPA President Derek Fisher has not taken part in the discussions.
Since the NBPA has disclaimed, it can no longer be considered a representative body for the NBA players and therefore cannot at the moment negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement on their behalf. Instead, the NBPA and NBA
will be talking about an out of court settlement to the lawsuits filed by players against the league.
Once the lawsuits are resolved, the NBPA could in theory reform and take the mantle of negotiations over the Collective Bargaining Agreement once more.
Some guarantees about the CBA are bound to be discussed by the NBPA in the lawsuit talks as well and both sides have been preparing for this. It has been reported that Stern has talked to various owners about relaxing some restrictions
on the mid level exception in the salary cap.
The owners want no exceptions in a new CBA for teams over the luxury tax threshold, which itself is bound to be increased significantly. The players though have demanded that all teams be provided with the exception regardless
of the luxury tax threshold.
Since the players have made many concessions during the NBA labour talks, such as giving the owners over $250 million per year in share of the Basketball Related Income, they appear determined to keep some of their liberties intact
on salary cap issues.
The owners though didn’t want to even give such small concessions to the players, which led to the ultimatum by David Stern in the belief that players would fold and owners would get a massively favourable new CBA. However the
players have finally made a stand and to the surprise of NBA owners, sued them in federal courts.
The move seems to have rattled owners whose confidence was bordering on arrogance and forced them to return to negotiations after having declared otherwise.
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