BALTIMORE
A day after the NBA brought its labor stalemate into the courtroom, Players Association executive director Billy Hunter said Wednesday he did not expect the 2011-12 season to go ahead.
Speaking at a law conference in Baltimore, Hunter was asked by an attendee if there would be a season, and he said, "If I had to bet on it at this moment, I would probably say no," The Baltimore Sun reported.
The NBA declared a lockout July 1, and the two sides remain far apart over how to divide about $4 billion in league revenue — to the tune of $800 million per year, according to Hunter.
He also said NBA Commissioner David Stern was being limited in negotiations by hard-line owners.
"In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they're doing is kind of holding [Stern's] feet to the fire," Hunter said, addressing the conference for the National Bar Association — an organization of largely African-American lawyers and judges.
The NBA on Tuesday filed a complaint against the National Basketball Players Association before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charging the union with "unfair labor practices" and arguing the players refused to negotiate in good faith.
The filing went on to say that the NBA players made unlawful threats to decertify as a union and pursue an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA owners — a strategy employed by the NFL players during the four-plus-month NFL lockout.
The NBA claimed the decertification of the players union would be a sham, an argument that also was presented to the NLRB by the NFL after the NFL Players Association decertified in March.
It is the first NBA lockout since the 1998-99 season, which led to 464 games being canceled.
Read more here.
A day after the NBA brought its labor stalemate into the courtroom, Players Association executive director Billy Hunter said Wednesday he did not expect the 2011-12 season to go ahead.
Speaking at a law conference in Baltimore, Hunter was asked by an attendee if there would be a season, and he said, "If I had to bet on it at this moment, I would probably say no," The Baltimore Sun reported.
The NBA declared a lockout July 1, and the two sides remain far apart over how to divide about $4 billion in league revenue — to the tune of $800 million per year, according to Hunter.
He also said NBA Commissioner David Stern was being limited in negotiations by hard-line owners.
"In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they're doing is kind of holding [Stern's] feet to the fire," Hunter said, addressing the conference for the National Bar Association — an organization of largely African-American lawyers and judges.
The NBA on Tuesday filed a complaint against the National Basketball Players Association before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charging the union with "unfair labor practices" and arguing the players refused to negotiate in good faith.
The filing went on to say that the NBA players made unlawful threats to decertify as a union and pursue an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA owners — a strategy employed by the NFL players during the four-plus-month NFL lockout.
The NBA claimed the decertification of the players union would be a sham, an argument that also was presented to the NLRB by the NFL after the NFL Players Association decertified in March.
It is the first NBA lockout since the 1998-99 season, which led to 464 games being canceled.
Read more here.
