NBPA Against Reducing Players' Portion Of Overall Income

Hunter Expects To Receive A Formal Proposal From The NBA In Next Few Weeks

The NBPA is “firmly against” the NBA’s “asking its players to reduce their portion of overall income” as early negotiations on a new CBA proceed, according to Frank Hughes of SI.com. NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter “spent the past week on the West Coast meeting with player representatives,” as well as Lakers G and NBPA President Derek Fisher. What Hunter is “preaching, 18 months before the fact, is that the players need to remain unified in case the owners impose a lockout for the start of the 2011-12 season.” Hunter said that he has had “two formal and one informal negotiating session with the league.” He added that he “expects to receive a formal proposal from the NBA in the next few weeks, after which the sides will sit down again at All-Star weekend in Dallas in mid-February.” Hunter said that he “expects the league to ask the players to reduce their take of basketball-related income” from 57% to 50%. Hunter: “I don’t want to give any indication where I am. But clearly I am nowhere near anybody’s 50-50. Where I am is I propose we extend the current deal. I have already offered that to the owners.” Hughes noted because the league “says as many as half the teams are losing money, there is little chance of Stern’s allowing the current [CBA] to be extended.” Hughes noted the “prevailing thought in league circles is that this will be the final agreement" NBA Commissioner David Stern negotiates before retiring. It will be his “legacy, and because of that, he will take a hard line.” Hunter: “My fear is that the last thing the league can withstand is another lockout, particularly in today’s economic climate. It doesn’t make sense. They contend that they have teams losing money. There is a strong possibility that those teams may not exist after a lockout” (SI.com, 1/9).