The NBA kicked off its 2014 season last week with great fanfare and hope of another great season. In 2017, both the owners and players can opt out of the CBA. With a new TV contract on the horizon, would either side risk another work stoppage?
The 2014 NBA season kicked off last week. Everyone was happy and excited about having basketball again. Some teams re-did their rosters and made themselves contenders. Others changed their names and started anew. Positive vibes reign supreme.
Can I step in and talk about the possibility of another work stoppage in 2017?
Yes, I know that is over 2 1/2 years away. Why think about it now, right? Well, the players are thinking about it, and if they are thinking about it, the owners are certainly thinking about it as well.
Both sides can opt out of the CBA in 2017. Just because it’s that far into the future, some players are trying to prepare for a stoppage. The Brooklyn Nets’ union rep, Deron Williams, spoke about that recently.
"I think it’s going in pretty much the same direction as it was last time (lockout of 2011),” said Williams, who is Brooklyn’s union rep. “So I feel like we made a lot of concessions last time, and it’s going to be hard for us to do that again. With the new leadership we have and (former NBAPA president Billy Hunter) finally being out of the picture, which is a great thing, hopefully things will go better for us.”I hope guys are preparing (for a work stoppage). When I first got in the league (in 2005), it’s when the old collective bargaining agreement was just kicking in. And as soon as I got in the league, they were already telling us to prepare for the next lockout. And it was ingrained in my mind. And I was prepared for that. I didn’t know that everybody did. So I would hope that people in the league learned from that and can tell the younger guys as well.We just have to start preparing early as a union (for a work stoppage). When we had a meeting in July, that was the focus of the meeting. We’ll be better prepared this time, we’ll be more ready to take different actions if need be."
In the 2011 lockout, the NBA (under the direction of David Stern) claimed that many of its teams were LOSING money, somewhat of a dubious claim. The players’ union
made a lot of concessions based on that assumption. The split of the Basketball Related Income (BRI) that the players got went from 57 percent to 50 percent. That (and other factors) ended up costing Billy Hunter his job as executive director of the players’ union.
Turns out, the league is doing better than what the owners claimed. The salary cap for this season went up 7.5 percent from last season. The Los Angeles Clippers were sold last season for $2 billion. The players have noticed.
LeBron James said that the owners would not be able to claim poverty this time around. With teams valued in the billions, and the salary cap jumping up so high and a new nine year, $24 billion television contract taking effect in a couple of years, it appears as if the NBA is doing very well, thank you very much.
The players are almost certainly going to opt out of the CBA in 2017. That’s not to say that it would be a guarantee of a lockout, but there will be a fight, and a lockout will loom.
“I hope guys are preparing (for a work stoppage)…We’ll be better prepared this time, we’ll be more ready to take different actions if need be.”
The owners will argue that the players don’t need to have a 50 percent split of the BRI. They will say that even if they take a lower percentage, they will still make more money than they are getting now. Of course, the players will argue that if there is so much money, then there is no need for a salary cap.
The owners worked too hard to have a salary cap and the players already gave up a big chunk of the BRI pie (costing people their jobs) so neither side will give up something so important for each of them.
James says that the same way the television deal was reached years in advance, the CBA deal can be negotiated now. “We would love to do it sooner than later.”
He may not be a union rep, but James’ words carry a lot of weight with the players. He is the best player on the planet right now, and the face of the NBA. When he speaks, people listen. If he wants to start taking a hard stance, then the union will take a hard stance.
For his part, Silver thinks it is premature to even talk about the subject of a lockout. “It’s premature even for me to be concerned,” Silver said. “We negotiated a 10-year collective bargaining agreement, there is a six-year out for either side. We are going into year four. We have, in my mind, something that is incredibly positive and that is two new great media deals. Fifty-one percent of that money goes to the players.”
Former NBA Commissioner Stern feels that a work stoppage could be avoided. “I think that our players are very smart and successful and they have hired what seems to be a smart and successful litigator,” Stern told CBSSports.com. “Our owners are smart and successful and have got Adam Silver, an accomplished litigator, too. And I have no doubt that they’re going to work it out.”
As I said, it won’t be until 2017 when either side can opt out of the CBA. The players learned their lessons from 2011, however. They went into that lockout unprepared and without proper leadership. With even more money at stake than last time, the players will be better prepared for a fight with the owners.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t get to that point.
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