Players Association, Executives to Get Serious in NBA Lockout Negotiations, Players Hope

On Wednesday, Aug. 31, NBA commissioner David Stern and NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter were scheduled to meet in Manhattan to get to work on the new collective bargaining agreement. Though a meeting between both sides is positive news, many believe there are reasons to not be overly optimistic about the outcome of the meeting.

“This is a telltale meeting,´ said agent Billy Duffy, whose client roster includes Steve Nash, Rajon Rondo  and Greg Oden “I think we will know the seriousness of both sides’ position after Wednesday.” When asked about the chance of the season being in jeopardy, Duffy stated plainly “I don’t think the season starts on time. There really has been no progress. The union has been patient on hoping there would be movement on the league side. The league hasn’t demonstrated any movement whatsoever while the union is flexible.”

Though top executives from both sides will be on hand throughout the discussion, there have been proposals sent back and forth between the two entities for over two years now, with very little, if any, progress actually being made. The fact that this is the first meeting between both sides since Aug. 1 means that there is little chance of the negotiations being completed by the Sept. 15 deadline that has been set, at which time the league will begin forgoing Training Camps and Preseason Games.

The real question then, becomes the regular season. With games scheduled to begin on Nov. 1, the league and players would need to get a deal done by Oct. 1 to give teams four weeks of Training Camp before the regular season begins. The players, who are paid weekly during the regular season, are already looking at alternatives, including continuing their college educations, street leagues, and playing overseas.

When asked to describe the negotiations to this point, Union Vice President Maurice Evans said,  “The best word I can use is generic. We’ve just been going through the motions. We’ve been meeting really often with the exception of this month. For the past two years we’ve been meeting and the owners are kind of disingenuous right now with their offers. Hopefully, at some point, they firm up a little bit and give us something to work with.”

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