NBPA points fingers at owners after the cancellation of two weeks of next NBA season
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has put the blame solely on the NBA owners after the league cancelled the first two weeks of the next NBA regular season. The announcement was made by NBA Commissioner David Stern, after the two sides failed to formulate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) till the deadline, which was Monday.
The differences between the two sides on a new CBA continue to be wide and not even a scintilla of breakthrough was achieved after a seven hour meeting. The players and owners do not agree on almost all issues, including the split of Basketball Related Income (BRI) and salary caps.
The NBPA repeated their assertion that they have compromised on a number of issues already and will not concede any further ground. NBPA President Derek Fisher reminded the media after the announcement that the players had been locked out; they were not the ones who cancelled games.
"This is not where we choose to be," he said. "We're not at a place where a fair deal can be reached with the NBA."
NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter had said much earlier that he did not expect there to be an NBA season for 2011-2012. He said he had made the prediction because he already knew that David Stern and the owners were prepared to sit out for a season, or even more, to get what they wanted.
"I think it goes back to a comment that David made to me several years ago when he said, 'Look, this is what my owners have to have.' And I said, 'The only way you're going to get that is if you're prepared to lock us out for a year or two, and (this) indicated to me that they're willing to do it," Hunter said.
He accused the NBA owners and the Commissioner of not coming to the negotiation table in good faith as they had already decided a course of action, and they were just going through the motions in order to fool the public.
"So my belief, my contention is that everything he's done has kind of demonstrated that he's following that script."
Hunter also branded the owners as “foolish” if they were to cancel the whole season, which looks likely, especially after all the progress the NBA has made in the last few years.
Last season was the best ever for the NBA in terms of revenue. The league reached new heights of popularity and had the best TV ratings for around a decade in the NBA Finals.
If the NBA were to cancel more, or all, of the remaining NBA season, irreversible damage could be done to the momentum gained over the years, especially last season, and the loyal fan base could become disenchanted with the game for a very long time.
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