NBA players pledge solidarity in the face of NBA games cancellation – Labour Dispute Update
NBA players have pledged to stay united in response to the cancellation of 100 regular season games by the league.
The NBA announced on Monday, October 10, that the first two weeks of the next regular season will be cancelled after the players union and NBA owners failed to reach an agreement on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
NBA Commissioner David Stern had warned earlier that if a CBA was not agreed upon by Monday this would happen and he lived up to his word. Various players reacted to the announcement yesterday, but the message was the same - they
are in it together and will fight it out in the same way.
Philadelphia 76ers forward Elton Brand said that he wasn’t surprised with what had transpired as the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) had warned the players a long time ago about the owners’ intentions. The player
came into the NBA just after its last lockout in 1998, and was confident that players are going to stay together and fight for their combined rights.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Brand said. “I was at the meetings and we talked about solidarity and sticking together. It’s what it’s come to. There wasn’t a mass vote, but this is what we agreed on and we’re sticking together.”
He also reposed faith in the union. Brand expressed frustration at not being able to play, but pointed out that it wasn’t really the players’ decision.
“We are sticking with the union and what we are doing. I wish we were playing, and I hope we don’t alienate our fans but, at the end of the day, we were locked out. It’s a lockout.”
Many senior NBA players, such as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, have been on the scene during the recent negotiations. Still more, such as Chauncey Billups of the New York Knicks, have worked tirelessly behind the scenes,
urging players to stay strong and vowing to help anyone that needed it during an anticipated long lockout.
The NBA players earn plenty of money and the union had told them to start saving up around a year ago, so most of them should be fine in case the lockout persists even longer.
When pay checks start to get lost though, there could be some people who might get nervy. None stand to lose more than the new comers. NBA rookies, drafted in July, are now stuck in a “no man’s land”. They declared for the draft
knowing that a lockout could jeopardize the start of their careers, but it is a lot harder to stomach when it actually happens.
“The worst thing about it is you really don’t know your next move right now,” Isaiah Thomas said, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings. “You’re just going off of what you hear. To get the news that the first two weeks are cancelled
makes it that much worse.”
Tags: