In the most hopeful of scenarios, it seemed like a throwaway caveat when NBA commissioner David Stern subtly added the words “or not” to end of seemingly optimistic comments on Thursday, after two long, intense days of negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association set the stage for finally attempting to tackel the split of basketball-related income (BRI) that has been the main divide between the two sides on the path to a labor agreement and actual pro basketball this winter.
It wasn’t, and here’s what’s not happening now after NBPA executive directory Billy Hunter and his team bailed upon hearing that the NBA, despite hinting that they were willing to move from their previous position, still wanted a 50%-50% split said BRI: a full 82-game season.
Hunter said Stern “snookered me” when it came to the expectations that all things were on the table on Friday, but the union is also under heavy pressure from its constituency not move any further from 52.5 percent, where it’s reached after being at 57 percent in the previous labor agreement.
“It’s not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now,” Stern said. The NBA has cancelled games through Nov. 30.
Of course, that was essentially the earliest anyone expected the 2011-12 season to begin with negotiations having dragged out this long already. The question now is how much of the season can be saved, or rather, is either side willing to cede enough in order to save it at all.
