CBA Terms Not Reached NBA in a Lockout

In despite of having talked for more than 3 hours, owners and players couldn’t reach an agreement, and the NBA officially locked out its players as the deadline expired yesterday at midnight. The main reason for the lockout is the lack of profits for the league’s teams, and now both parts will have to sit down on a frequent basis to discuss a final resolution in order to try to have some basketball action, although if the pressure from players continue, the owners have said that they are ready to stop the whole 2011-2012 season.

The owners are looking for a long-term solution that can allow teams from large and small markets to be able of making a profit as that is currently not occurring since 22 teams from the league are over expending in players while not getting enough revenue to compensate.

With players more prepared than ever to face a lockout, and with owners also willing to do what is necessary to obtain a deal they consider as acceptable, it is clear that this could be a long process, where the actual losers will most likely end up being the players, as the league is not pleased with them getting 57% of all of the NBA’s total hoops-related revenue since they lost a total of $300 million last season alone.

Last week, owners desisted on their no-guaranteed contracts policy, but they are still insisting about teams being able to release players without full compensation due to their high salaries, and to the eyes of Derek Fisher and the union, this is a form of hard cap, which they don’t want included in a possible deal.

Both sides believe that if each has it their way, the league is going to collapse, and until this mental stagnation stops, it is clear that the longer the lockout is, the more the players are going to suffer, as they will not perceive any income, and the pressure on them will grow more and more until they will finally break, allowing owners to impose their demands on them, just like it happened with the NHL when they went on a 2004-2005 season-long lockout which had as a consequence hard salary caps and the slashing of players contracts by a significant 24%.

Though the players are the biggest losers, the teams will also suffer in terms of fan support if games are actually cancelled, which is why they should hurry to take a final decision.