Fisher Says NBA Players Not Likely To Accept Major Cut In Revenue

Fisher Says Neither Players Nor Owners Intend To Drag Out CBA Negotiations

Lakers G and NBPA President Derek Fisher indicated that if NBA owners "ask players to give back an inordinate amount of money in collective bargaining talks, those talks at All-Star Weekend probably won't last long," according to Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com. Fisher responded to a report that "owners will seek to cut the players' share of revenues" from 57% to 45%, saying, "I don't foresee any situation where we agree to a deal that flips the percentage in that manner, but there are a lot of ways to get to a destination or a goal. ... It's a negotiation, so I don't think we'd be surprised if there's an overreach. So we'll see when we receive it how it looks, but I don't know if we should box ourselves in to just sending back our response to what they sent." Sheridan noted the NBA and NBPA "have met several times, formally and informally," but the planned collective bargaining session during All-Star Weekend "will be the first time either side will have already put forth a formal proposal." Fisher: "I don't think any side has any intentions of dragging it out unnecessarily, but at the same time we have a year and a half. We're serious in our approach to getting this started sooner than later, but we're not going to rush to judgment to things that are sent out this early in the game" (ESPN.com, 2/1). A representative for "several high-profile NBA players" provided figures revealing the percentage of basketball-related income the players have received each year since '95-96 (ESPN.com, 2/1).

PERCENTAGE OF BASKETBALL-RELATED INCOME TO NBA PLAYERS
SEASON	PERCENTAGE	SEASON	PERCENTAGE
'08-09	57.4%	'01-02	57%
'07-08	57%	'00-01	65%
'06-07	57%	'99-00	62%
'05-06	57%	'98-99	59%
'04-05	57%	'97-98	57%
'03-04	57%	'96-97	55%
'02-03	60%	'95-96	53%