Union disbands; legal battle to follow

(AP)
"I've got them right where I want them..."

The NBA Players Association has decided not to accept the NBA's latest deal and has chosen to dissolve the union and prepare to file an anti-trust lawsuit against the league. Essentially, this means that the chances of losing the entire season just increased dramatically.

This is extremely saddening news for anyone who loves or is involved with the game of basketball. The fact that the players are taking legal action that could/should have been taken months ago shows that they are in over their head, and really, have been the entire time. This process could drag out for months and months. More players are already negotiating contracts with teams overseas.

I wouldn't say that I have an allegiance towards the players or the owners, but the players really do look foolish here. What did they expect to happen? They haven't had any leverage from the start, and now that they've been backed into a corner (and faced with the harsh reality that the deal that was just on the table was the best one that they were going to get), they desperately turn to the courts to bail them out.

Let's face it: they beat the owners the last time around. Bad. They had to know that the NBA was going to do as much as it could to even the odds this time around. The union should have made a few concessions, see how bad the owners were pushing, and accepted as close to 50/50 as they could have gotten before losing any games. Instead, we're here.

Man I wish I liked hockey.

Oh well, at least the Eagles are good this year, right?

Oh wait...

NBA lockout talks end in stalemate; players given a Wednesday deadline

(TMZ)
Derek's face says it all.

Now the frustration is really starting to set in.

After last night's meeting between the NBA and NBAPA, in which federal mediator George Cohen returned to the conversation, the owners offered the players a deal. Cohen got creative with the two sides and combined their views on the issues to try and make the proposal as fair as possible to both parties. For the BRI, the offer contained a system where the players have an opportunity to earn up to 51% if revenue meets a certain number, but also allows them to drop to 49%. David Stern has said that if the players do not accept the deal by Wednesday, the owners will drop their prior offer and return to the stricter stance that they started with, which is 47% BRI and a flex cap.

This whole circus will stop soon, one way or the other. If the players do not accept the deal by Wednesday, which all signs are pointing to them not doing, then the threat of decertification that they tossed around earlier in the week will become very real. If the union is decertified, it will mark the beginning of a long, tedious, grueling legal battle that would almost ensure the entire season's cancellation.

I think it's safe to say that fan's disgust with the league is at an all time high. This is exactly what the NBA needed to avoid.

This "negotiation" has gone wrong right from the start. It's not too late to fix it, but very soon, it will be.