Representatives of the NBA players and owners began a meeting early Thursday that could determine if the league will lockout it’s players for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
The AP reports that both sides began a meeting a mere 12 hours before the current NBA CBA is set to expire at midnight.
According to several sources, both sides remain very far apart on all important issues including a potential pay cut for the players in upwards of 33%. If both sides don’t come to an agreement then the owners can choose to lock players out. However if significant progress is made, which doesn’t seem very likely at this point, the deadline could be extended.
Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com writes that owners are seeking a new CBA that will span over the next 10 years and entitle them to a much larger portion of the leagues revenue.
Sheridan goes on to say that players currently receive a guaranteed 57 percent of the $3.6 billion in basketball-related income ($4.2 billion in gross revenues, minus a $600 million credit for operating expenses), which accounted for $2.17 billion in salaries and benefits for the 2010-11 season.
With both sides indicating last week that they may not have any more concessions to make and with players declining to make any new proposals at the last session, this could turn out to be a very lengthy and ugly lockout for the NBA.
Source: SI.com, Associated Press, ESPN.com
