Lockout ends, but plans for future are hectic

Christmas Day 2011 might be the merriest Christmas that any basketball fan has ever had. After the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat in Game Six of the NBA finals, basketball was as popular as ever. An upset had occurred in an exciting NBA final, but quickly, the league's popularity sank because of a 149 day lockout. The NBA 2011-12 season was doubtful; however, a deal between the players and the owners was reached, and it is agreed that the season will begin on Christmas day. The Grinch did not steal Christmas after all.


With little time between the agreement of the deal in late November and December 25th, free agency will have to be a quick process. Contracts are not allowed to be signed until December 9th, but rumors of possible trades are already spreading. Dwight Howard, a center from the Orlando Magic, is coveted by many teams. The New Jersey Nets are already willing to offer center Brook Lopez and two future first round draft choices for Dwight Howard.

The upcoming 2011-12 season will be a shortened 66 game regular season, but the lack of games doesn’t matter to the players or fans. They are just happy that basketball is back. "We are thrilled that a tentative agreement has been reached and are looking forward to getting back to work and playing basketball," Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat said in an official statement. To make the season even more interesting, two more games will be added to the original three that are shown on Christmas. One of those games will be a rematch of the NBA finals with Dallas hosting Miami.

With a wacky schedule coming up, this may be one of the more memorable NBA seasons. It is not very often that fans open presents while watching the NBA players take the court for the first time in over six months.

NBA lockout continues

The NBA lockout is in its fifth month, and things are getting worse. NBA commissioner David Stern recently announced that there are not going to be anymore games until December 15th, totaling a loss of 324 games, which equates to about 25% of the season. The players felt that nothing has been getting done, so they disbanded their union in the hopes that things might change. Many players have decided to file class action anti-trust law suits, arguing that the NBA owners locking out the players on July 1st violated anti-trust laws by not letting the players work.

David Boies.  Photo by Steve Rhodes.

The players have filed two lawsuits in two different states, California and Minnesota, and are being represented by Attorney David Boies. Boies moved the California case to the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals; the 9th circuit is known for being a very liberal court, and thus would likely favor the players in the upcoming court battle. The other case, filed in Minnesota, is also a very liberal court. The NBA has decided to file a counter suit in New York City in an attempt to have the other court cases moved there as well. This could seriously damage the players case as the New York City’s court system often is in favor of the owners in worker disputes such as these. The players are suing for “treble damages,” three times the two billion that they would have made if they had played for the entire season. At the moment the court case is set to be heard on February 29th, 2012, but Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports has reported, “[A] court official says that [the] court date could be moved up.”

Even if the court date isn’t moved up there still might be hope. Last week the NBA players missed their first paycheck. On average this is a loss of over $220,000 per player. Many players spend their money lavishly, and with the season being cut even shorter, the players will become more desperate. Many hope that the players are more prepared for the impending loss of money then they were during the ’98 - ’99 lockout. Hopefully this will mean that the players will settle outside of court, so they can minimize the amount of money they would miss, and the fans will finally be able to watch more basketball.

Unfortunately it is not just the players, or the owners, who will experience losses, the average workers at the stadium will be hit the hardest. There are thousands of workers across America who are experiencing the loss of their jobs. These workers were already paid low wages, and the loss of a monthly of paycheck will throw thousands of Americans into an even deeper state of poverty.

The NBA lockout really needs to come to an end. Everyone is starting to experience the pains of the lockout. The most important people to the success of basketball, the fans, are also getting fed up, and are starting to go elsewhere. If the lawsuit continues, we might not hear a verdict for a very longtime, and the scars of the suit will never go away. It is time to end the lockout.

Managing a Lockout

It has been over three months and the owners aren’t close to making a deal with the players. Deals have now reached near a 50-50 split of revenues, but issues concerning attempts to balance teams such as the luxury tax are delaying a final agreement. An agreement anytime soon is unlikely even with the numbers getting closer.

The most recent offer given by the owners is 50% of basketball related income for both sides. This offer also includes a luxury tax of $1.75-1 to start coming into effect after $70 million has been surpassed. and increased to $2.25-1 after $75 million.

Owners have decided to stay put on the basketball related income split, but negotiations over things like a salary cap are still open for discussion. The players union has refused a 50-50 split on basketball related income. They feel the players deserve more than 50%.

The longer the lockout lasts, the better the deal will be for the owners. This would benefit owners of less valued teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, but owners of teams like Miami Heat and the L.A Lakers would prefer to settle as soon as possible. To make matters worse for a resolution, the majority of the owners are thinking it’s better to fix the system and get more money than to actually try to contest the big teams and gain money through that path even if it takes a season.

Egos are a big part in negotiations between rich people. Despite a deal that is almost balanced for both sides, neither wants be the loser. Whether it will take a week or a season, the deal has to be one that makes both owners and players alike feel like the victor.

NBA Owners are refusing to budge

The NBA lockout is certainly causing a big commotion, and there does not seem to be any end in sight. What started on July 1^st as a talk about how to divide the $4.3 billion in league revenue has turned into a three month long lockout. One hundred games have already been canceled and many analysts don’t expect there to be any more games until Christmas.

Last season the players were being paid 57% of the revenue. During negotiations the players offered a 53-47 split, which would be a loss of over $180 million dollars to the players. The owners, however, refused, proposing a 50-50 split. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said, “What we told the union was that we were not prepared to negotiate over the B.R.I. split beyond the 50-50 concept that had already been discussed.” NBA commissioner David Stern has said the teams are experiencing over $300 million dollars in losses annually.

Owners have been pushing other requirements as well. They originally proposed a hard salary cap. This cap would limit the amount of money that teams would be able to spend on the player’s salaries. This was proposed in order to make it easier for lesser teams to be able to compete. The owners conceded to the player’s demand for there to be a flexible cap by creating a harsher luxury tax. This would create a situation where the teams can only spend a certain amount of money on certain purchases without being harshly taxed. The players argue that this would effectively institute a hard cap.

 Tom Ziller, a writer for SBNation put it best, “Canceling two weeks because the union won't approve a very hard cap-ish luxury tax in addition to giving up more than $200 million in annual salary is like flipping the Monopoly board because another player bought Marvin Gardens out from under you, while you have hotels on all of the green and blue properties.”

It seems as if we are going to be in for a very tough ride. Neither side wants to give in, nor are the owners refusing to negotiate the division of revenue. Negotiating sessions are going on for 16 hours a day; everyone is exhausted. Both sides don’t seem eager to resolve their issues. Players are leaving for foreign countries; others are talking about starting their own teams. The NBA will be in for a very rough few years if this doesn’t get resolved sometime soon.

Players hopeful, but its not just for the money

Since July 1st, the NBA has been involved in a lockout which has now extended over 110 days. Both the players and the owners refuse to agree on a deal. The players feel that they should get 53% of the money, while the owners feel that they should be given 53% of the money. The 2011-12 season in jeopardy with the first two weeks of the NBA season already being cancelled.



“I think we [players] are [prepared to miss the season],” said Shannon Brown a point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers in an ESPN interview. “We don’t want to though.”
The players feel that they should get more of the money because as Brown said, “We [players] don’t want to feel like we’re out there giving our services, giving our bodies, giving our time, being away form our families and all of that stuff being taken advantage of and we’re not reaping benefits from it.”



Although the players are willing to stand tough and not give into the owners, the owners have the clear advantage when it comes down to who will do better without an upcoming NBA season. The owners can make money without basketball while the players can’t. “You know its sad when people don't even try and hide their greed,” said an angry Dwayne Wade on his Twitter account. Obviously, the players are upset and may very well have to give into the owners. No one knows what deal the players and owners will agree on, but one thing is for certain, things are looking grim in the NBA world.