NBA Lockout Update

The NBA Players Union officials said on Tuesday that they will not be accepting the current offer from team owners. NBA Commissioner David Stern has also said that the next offer from the owners will be a lot worse. As the NBA lockout continues to swing from side to side, the optimism for an NBA season continues to diminish. Owners continue to strive for a hard cap and 50-50 revenue cut, while players want to be paid at a price that they feel is fair and that they deserve. This continues to be a very touchy situation because as players feel their sense of value, the owners need to make profits to stay in business. The owners, who hold most of the cards, have yet to really budge on their original offer while the players have had to compensate quite a bit. I think if this deal wants to get done, the owners are going to have to give up some things. The owners have seemed very selfish during this process and have not shown that they are willing to come to a middle ground. However, owners do have a valid point because many are said to be losing money and players all across the League are getting paid way too much. I can look at pretty much every current NBA team roster and salary and find one or two players where I ask myself “Really? He is getting paid that much?” I understand why superstars get paid the money that they do, but some mediocre all across the League are being overpaid. The owners have also showed that they do not care all that much to get a season started as quickly as possible because they are already losing money. With the deal far from done, the idea of decertification becomes more and more relevant. If the players do decide to decertify, a long legal process would most likely occur, which I am sure both parties do not need or want. The players only need 30 percent to sign a petition for decertification. However if both sides don’t want it to come to that, then a deal needs to be reached very soon. With the owners currently willing to give players between a 49 and 51 percent of the revenue and David Sterns statement that the offers will only get worse, the players will need fight back quickly and get something worked out soon. We will see how everything shakes out, but as of right now, the 2011-12 NBA season continues to look less and less like a reality.