NEW YORK – The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are meeting past Commissioner David Stern's 5 p.m. ET deadline today to accept the league's latest contract offer before it worsens.
National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter (wearing glasses) and president Derek Fisher (to his right) will meet with the NBA one last time today to get a deal before the league offer worsens.
By Frank Franklin II, AP
National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter (wearing glasses) and president Derek Fisher (to his right) will meet with the NBA one last time today to get a deal before the league offer worsens.
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By Frank Franklin II, AP
National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter (wearing glasses) and president Derek Fisher (to his right) will meet with the NBA one last time today to get a deal before the league offer worsens.
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The sides began meeting here in small groups shortly after 1 p.m. ET, and also have met face to face.
The meeting included NBA Commissioner David Stern, NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy, NBPA president Derek Fisher and lawyers and economists.
So it seems Hunter was correct in saying Tuesday that he felt the 5 p.m. ET deadline was "artificial."
The sides seem to have found common ground on the split on basketball-related income (BRI) — roughly 50-50 — but remain divided on the system to deliver that money to the players.
Team player representatives met with union executives Tuesday in New York and solidly supported rejecting the NBA's current offer.
The plan was if they didn't come to an agreement by the 5 p.m. deadline, the offer would have dropped to a 53-47 split of revenues in the owners' favor, with such system issues as a firm hard salary cap.
But the pressure to decertify the union will immediately mount if the NBA does drop its BRI percentage and if players fail to make ground on the system issues this week, according to three persons familiar with decertification talks who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to go public.
The push to decertify has come from players and agents unhappy with the league's bargaining position.
To start that push, 30% of union membership — roughly 130 players — must sign a decertification petition for the National Labor Relations Board to authorize a vote within 45-60 days. Hunter told NBATV he was under the impression about 200 players were prepared to sign the decertification petition.
If 50% of the membership votes in favor of decertification, the union dissolves. Players then could bring antitrust lawsuits against the NBA for the lockout.
Proponents of decertification believe the mere threat of dissolving the union would put pressure on owners to make a deal that isn't as onerous on players.
But antitrust lawsuits are expensive and time-consuming and could put the 2011-12 season further in jeopardy.
The union has resisted decertification, preferring to collectively bargain with the NBA, and told players in a meeting Tuesday that decertification is not a viable strategy.
The union has made clear it is willing to bargain on the split of BRI, down from its previous position of 52-48 in favor of players, as long as the league made changes in the players' favor on system issues.
"There has to be some change in their position on those areas in order for us to not just get a deal done by (Wednesday), but any deal. (It) has to include significant improvements in those system areas," NBPA president Derek Fisher said.
What are those crucial system issues?
• Mid-level exception: The league wants to limit the amount of money and years on the mid-level exception a taxpaying club can give a player — $2.5 million a year for two years for taxpayers compared to $5 million for either four or three years for non-taxpaying clubs. The mid-level exception, in the past CBA, allows a club to sign a player for the league's average salary and exceed the salary cap. The union says this restricts player movement.
• The luxury tax: The sides see eye to eye on a more punitive tax that increases for every $5 million a club exceeds the cap, but the league wants to further penalize teams with a bigger tax bill if a club exceeds the tax threshold more than three times in a five-year period. The union doesn't agree with the amount of tax for "repeat offenders."
• Sign-and-trade: The NBA wants to limit taxpaying teams from acquiring players via a sign-and-trade deal. The union wants no restrictions on sign-and-trade deals for taxpayers.
• The tax cliff: Luxury tax payments by taxpayers are divided by 30, and each non-taxpaying club receives a 1/30th share of that money. The union argues that clubs on the verge of the tax threshold, or the cliff, are hesitant to exceed the threshold because they will miss out on that 1/30th share. The union wants clubs who barely pass the threshold to receive some of that 1/30th share.
• The NBA wants 10% of each player's paycheck to go into an escrow account — money that is reserved if the league spends more than the specified percentage of BRI. It was 8% in the last CBA, and the union opposes 10%.
The league believes the system changes it seeks will help create more competitive balance, a goal it has had from the onset of negotiations.
The NBA not only wants to eliminate financial losses, it also wants to profit and create a system where the discrepancy between high-spending and low-spending clubs isn't as wide as it has been in the past.
Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers spent $110 million on payroll, and the Sacramento Kings spent $44 million.
Now, the questions are: Can Stern sell the labor relations committee on the changes to the system the NBPA seeks, and if so, will owners and players support the deal? It requires a majority on side to ratify a new deal.
The labor relations committee consists of 11 owners/club representatives: San Antonio Spurs owner and committee chairman Peter Holt; Lakers executive vice president Jeanie Buss, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, New York Knicks owner James Dolan, Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett, Orlando Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide, Portland Trail Blazers president Larry Miller and Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, chairman of the NBA's Board of Governors.
The committee is a mix of hardline owners and those willing to bargain a little more with players. The hardliners outnumber the others, but that doesn't mean modifications to the owners' proposal are impossible.
If Stern has pull with the labor relationsugg boots for men ugg boots for men ugg boots for men committee and wants to make a few changes to the proposals on system issues, it is very possible a framework of a deal could emerge soon.
It's also possible the league is dug in on itsugg boots for men ugg boots for men ugg boots for men 50-50 proposal, and sees no room to alter its offer.
What then? The players' offer from the NBA gets worse.
•After apologizing to Stern for saying owners are treating players like "plantation workers," NBPA outside counsel Jefferey Kesslerugg boots for men ugg boots for men ugg boots for men was expected to be at the meetings, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly. Kessler has irritated the league in negotiations and with his comments to news journalists covering the lockout.
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