Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant clarifies players’ position in NBA Lockout
The two times defending NBA scoring champion and the face of the Oklahoma City Thunder Kevin Durant has defended the players’ position in the current NBA labour dispute. Durant felt the players were on the right and it was the
owners who were causing all the damage.
“Well first of all, we’re not trying to get more money. We already gave up money, we sacrificed money in our negotiating to try to make a deal. But the owners won’t budge.” Kevin said in an interview posted on sportsradiointerviews.com
The NBA lockout began on July 1st after the expiry of the old Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The lockout is now in its 4th month and NBA training camps as well as the pre-season have already been wiped
out.
After the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) were unable to resolve their differences after prolonged negotiations, NBA Commissioner David Stern cancelled 100 regular season games on Monday, October 10.
He has threatened that more cancellations will follow if an agreement is not reached in the ongoing labour negotiations in the presence of a federal mediator, which has put the NBA season in serious jeopardy.
The NBA fans have become increasingly angry with the behaviour of both sides, whom they accuse of being greedy and not caring about the game.
Durant was however insistent that NBA players wanted to start playing as soon as possible and they had actually offered to give money to the owners for this purpose. It was the owners who just wouldn’t have it, one way or the other.
He also revealed that the players believed their demands were fair and they had to make a stand now to avoid suffering later. Kevin believed the NBA players were not only fighting for themselves, they were also fighting for athletes
who will come after them.
“Yeah man, I think we’re trying to get a deal done that’s going to really help what we’ve got going on now, but like you said, the players that will be coming after us too. We’re sacrificing a little bit of time for betterment
of both.”
He also acknowledged that the fans were angry due to the prolonged lockout and the NBA could stand to lose a lot of momentum because of the turmoil. He however expressed hope that a deal, fair for both sides, will soon be reached
and the NBA season could be salvaged.
“But hopefully we get something done because I know the fans are getting anxious or a little upset, but I think we’re doing what we need to make sure the players have a fair deal.”
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