New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony braced for lost games in the next NBA season
NBA super star Carmelo Anthony recently took pains to confirm what everyone already knew - he and the rest of the NBA players, expected games to be cancelled and were ready for it. The NBA owners and players have hit a deadlock in negotiations for a new CBA and NBA Commissioner David Stern declared earlier that if a solution wasn’t reached by Monday he would have to cancel the first two weeks of regular season games.
New York Knicks star Anthony though appeared unfazed by the prospect and said while the players did not want this; they are willing to see it out.
"They're going to cancel the first two weeks of the season," Anthony said. "We'll see what happens then. If they want to lock us out, lock us out. We're going to stick together."
The NBA players and owners last disagreed on the split for the Basketball Related Income. The players got 57 percent of the BRI under the previous CBA and were offered 50 percent by NBA Commissioner David Stern this time around, which they promptly refused.
Since then the two sides have not met, nor have they given an indication that they are going to try and settle matters before Monday and save the games. Carmelo said it was simply unrealistic to sort out all the affairs till the stated deadline,
"I don't think nothing is going to happen between now and Monday," Anthony said. "So we've just got to be prepared for that, be prepared for the lockout for the first two weeks and see where all this is going."
He was speaking after taking part in an exhibition game in Miami. The game was organized by Miami Heat super stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. It was just one of the many games Melo has played this off season, as have many others.
As the NBA has locked out the players, they cannot train with team coaches or use training facilities of their respective franchises. In addition, the training camps and pre-season games have also been cancelled.
In the circumstances, NBA players have pooled together their resources to hold some team trainings and a lot of exhibition games around the country. In fact, an all NBA league took place in Las Vegas where a number of players turned up to compete and get in shape for whenever the season might start.
Carmelo said the players didn’t have much other choice. They are not going to give in to unfair demands by NBA owners, so they might as well keep playing.
"We'll keep it going," said Anthony. "Until they say the lockout is over, we'll keep putting these games on."
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