Imagine, if you will, this nightmare scenario:
Your favorite team, after spending years trying to clear up a salary-cap mess, signs one of this summer’s marquee free agents. Led by the new guy and some developing youngsters, they put a real scare into one of the top teams in the conference in the 2011 playoffs and seem primed for a title run in 2011-12.
And then that 2011-12 season never happens.
Scary? You bet. Thing is, that scenario is a lot more likely than the chills you’ll get from the average Stephen King novel. If the opening salvos are any indication, the upcoming discussions between NBA management and the players union will be less “negotiation” than “war of attrition.”
Some of the items reportedly on the owners’ wish list include:
- A greater percentage of “basketball related income.” The players have been getting around 57 percent of “BRI” for the last several years. The owners want that number under 50.
- “Max” contracts that are shorter in years and smaller in dollars.
- A “hard” cap without dozens of exceptions.
For the union, those will be some bitter pills to swallow. But as Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnaroswsi points out, the players most likely to be hurt by the new deal will be the LeBrons and Kobes and Dwyane Wades and Chris Pauls… and there aren’t enough “max” players to constitute a strong voting bloc. The owners are banking on the idea that the union rank-and-file won’t be willing to sacrifice paychecks so King James can pocket a few extra millions.
NBA Lockout Looming originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 16:40:23.
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