Tag: Player

Union to meet today to discuss league’s offer

MIAMI — Decision day for players may have arrived.

The players’ association will meet in New York this morning, a session that could lead to the end of the lockout or send it into a bigger tailspin. Representatives from all 30 teams are expected, as are other players, to examine and discuss a seven-page summary of the NBA’s latest collective bargaining proposal to the union.

The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by , was dated to be delivered to union executive director on Friday. At least some of the people who will be in the NBPA meeting said Sunday they had not yet seen the offer, creating more than a little confusion over what exactly is on the table.

“We haven’t asked for anything more than what we had,” player representative said Sunday. “We understand the times. We understand the economy. We just want a fair deal where both sides are bearing the weight of the present times and with an eye on the future of the game of basketball.”

Sounds so simple. But it’s not.

By today, things could finally become clear — because this union meeting may decide if basketball will be played this season.

Some project that team payrolls will exceed $100 million in the next five or so years, even to the chagrin of many owners. And on Saturday, commissioner said again if the current offer is rejected, a harsher one — where owners would keep about another $120 million of basketball related income, or BRI, each year, along with other so-called system issues that players didn’t want — will take its place.

“We’re not going to cancel the season this week,” Stern said. “We’re just going to present them what we told them we would.”

The NBA wants a 72-game season to begin Dec. 15. For that to happen, a handshake deal almost certainly would have to be in place this week. Stern says it will take about 30 days to get the season started once an agreement is reached.

There are 17 items in the memo, including how teams paying a luxury tax would not be able to acquire free agents in sign-and-trade deals after the 2012-13 season. One of the key points comes on Page 5, where the NBA says “there will be no limitations on a player’s ability to receive 100%guaranteed salary in all seasons of a contract.”

Players have repeatedly said they will reject a deal where contracts are not guaranteed.

“I’m going to sit down, take a look at the deal and analyze it,” Minnesota player rep said Sunday, as the lockout reached Day 136. “Not like it’s the first offer or the last offer, but just as one where I’ll say ‘Would I or my teammates want to play under these conditions?’

“I was a little bit more hopeful last week than I am this week. I’m trying not to be too negative, but it’s kind of hard not to when it’s been this long and this many meetings. It’s hard not to get continuously more pessimistic by the day. Hopefully this deal will blow me away in a good way. But it’s hard to believe that’s going to be the case.”

Owners putting ball in players’ court

Facing an ultimatum from league owners and dissension within its membership, the leadership of the Players Association will conduct a conference call today to consider its options.

Spurs forward , a member of the union’s executive committee, said he expects a wide-ranging discussion. One topic will gauge the level of player interest in signing a petition to force a vote that could decertify the union.

The NBA late Saturday night gave the union a formal proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement that Bonner characterized as “basically another 50-50 split” of basketball-related income. It included some changes in the luxury tax system he said represented little change from the owners’ previous positions.

The union rejected the offer on the spot, but commissioner said it would remain on the table only through the end of business Wednesday.

Details of the league’s offer, which Stern promised to put in writing for the union to assess ahead of the deadline, include:

A “band” of revenue for the players between 49 and 51 percent, depending on revenue growth.

Restrictions on teams over the luxury tax threshold, including a ban on both sign-and-trade deals and full use of mid-level salary cap exceptions. The full mid-level would be replaced for tax-paying teams by a “mini” mid-level that would start at $2.5 million, half of the full mid-level.

An added penalty for teams that exceed the luxury tax threshold three times in five seasons.

If it is not accepted by Wednesday, Stern said the offer would be withdrawn and replaced by a much worse deal, with a revenue split giving the players only 47 percent of BRI and a “flex” salary cap system the players already have characterized as an unacceptable hard cap.

Lakers guard , the union’s president, told reporters in New York on Saturday that the NBA deal was not one the executive committee could take to its players for a vote.

Bonner said every member of the executive committee is behind the decision to reject it.

“We’re all on the same page,” he said.

Saturday’s session, which was conducted under the guidance of , head of the , was frustrating for the players.

“Saturday sucked,” Bonner said. “The way we saw to save the season and get a deal was by saying the system was more important to us, BRI more important to them; we can compromise on BRI if they can come more to us on the remaining system issues.

“That’s what we were hoping would get a deal, and we really thought the approach we took was going to get it done. But when George came back after taking our offer to the owners, what he came back with was five or six changes in system things, and all but one were what the owners wanted. It was basically their deal.”

Disbanding the union would allow players to file an anti-trust lawsuit against the league. The more important, immediate result would be some leverage for the union during the roughly 45 days it would take for the to arrange a vote of all 450 members of the union.

The threat of decertification and the uncertainty that comes with it could give the union the leverage it needs to coax a better offer from the league than the deal it rejected Saturday.

“I’m sure we’ll talk about everything on the call,” Bonner said.

Stern details specifics of ultimatum in letter

By Howard Beck, New York Times

NEW YORK — The ultimatum issued by the NBA to its players over the weekend not only threatens them with a worse labor deal but also a massive pay cut if they do not make a deal by Wednesday afternoon.

A letter sent by David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, to the players union Sunday contrasts the proposal on the table — highlighted by a 50-50 split of revenues — with a “reset” proposal that would cut the players’ share to 47 percent, roll back current contracts, impose a hard salary cap and reduce contract lengths.

The salary rollback, which was part of the NBA’s first controversial proposal in 2010, had not been included in any league proposal for many months, and it was not publicly mentioned by Stern when he announced the ultimatum Saturday.

But the rollback was included in the letter Stern sent to Billy Hunter, the union’s executive director. A copy of the letter was obtained by the New York Times.

The union has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to accept the NBA’s last proposal or have it replaced by the reset proposal, Stern wrote.

The NBA’s current proposal to the players includes a soft salary cap, a 50 percent share of revenues for players and these features:

• Salary-cap and luxury-tax levels in Years 1 and 2 of the new agreement will be no less than they were in 2010-11. By Year 3, they will be adjusted downward to conform to the new system.

• Sign-and-trade deals and the biannual exception will be available only to nontaxpaying teams.

• Extend-and-trade deals, like the one signed by Carmelo Anthony last season, won’t be allowed.

• The midlevel exception will be set at $5 million for nontaxpaying teams, with a maximum length between three and four years (alternating annually). The value of the exception will grow by 3 percent annually, starting in Year 3.

• The midlevel exception will be set at $2.5 million for taxpaying teams, with a maximum length of two years, and cannot be used in consecutive years.

• A 10 percent escrow tax will be withheld from player salaries, to ensure that player earnings do not exceed 50 percent of league revenues.

• Maximum contract lengths will be five years for “Bird” free agents and four years for others.

• Players will be paid a prorated share of their 2011-12 salaries, based on games played once the season starts.

• Team and player contract options will be prohibited in new contracts, other than rookie deals. But a player can opt out of the final year of a contract if he agrees to zero salary protection (i.e., if it is nonguaranteed).

The “reset” proposal features a flex-cap system that contains an absolute salary ceiling — to be set $5 million above the average team salary. In addition, the NBA would roll back existing contracts “in proportion to system changes in order to ensure sufficient market for free agents.”

Some of the other major differences in the “reset” proposal:

• The midlevel exception would be set at $3 million in Year 1, with a maximum length of three years, and would grow at 3 percent annually.

• Maximum salaries would be reduced.

• Contracts would be limited to four years for “Bird” free agents and three years for others, but each team could give a five-year deal to one designated player.

Both proposals include an “amnesty” provision that will allow every team to waive one player and have 100 percent of his salary removed from the cap.