NBA owners and players still at odds over salary cap issue – NBA Labour Dispute Update
The NBA lockout is into its 5th month now but the owners and player still cannot find common ground on key issue. After talks between the two sides broke down again last Friday, October 28, the National Basketball Players
Association (NBPA) revealed that the two sides still could not agree on the salary cap issue.
The NBA owners want a hard salary cap in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Their reasons are simple; the current system allows for too many exceptions and player power, ultimately resulting in NBA teams overspending
by large amounts.
The players though are having none of it. They have called it a blood issue in the past and executive director of the NBPA, Billy Hunter, said there was no way they would agree to any kind of hard cap,
"We've told them that we don't want a hard cap. We don't want a hard cap any kind of way, either an obvious hard cap or a hard cap that may not be as obvious to most people but we know it works like a hard cap," Hunter said.
The owners had suggested a flex cap earlier which was rejected by the players. They have since stopped trying to put a label on it but keep firm on their demand for excessive taxation on teams that cross a pre-set threshold in
terms of player salaries.
If the players don’t agree, Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver is only going to harden his stance.
"Our response is then let's have a hard cap, which is what we wanted," he said.
In last week’s meetings, the two sides specifically targeted the salary cap issue. Coupled with the split of the Basketball Related Income, it remains one of the only disputes still outstanding.
Reports suggested that some progress was made in terms of the salary cap, and the players did agree to a few restrictions hoping to get some concession in the BRI and get a deal done quickly. However, talks still fell apart.
The reason suggested by David Stern, naturally, was that the players didn’t want to make a deal. Hunter though had a different version of events.
"And so you get there, and then all of a sudden they say, 'Well, we also have to have our number.' And you say, 'Well wait a minute, you're not negotiating in good faith.'"
He alleged that after movement on the salary cap issue, players expected some give and take on the BRI. Stern though straight up refused to budge and again toed the 50-50 split line.
The NBPA then decided that it the negotiations would go nowhere if this attitude wasn’t going to change and have suspended talks indefinitely.
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