NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement this afternoon that the NBA could lose its entire season after the NBPA rejected the league’s latest CBA proposal and said it had filed a disclaimer of interest, which helps clear the way for the union to file an antitrust lawsuit against the league. However, Stern’s statement did not mention any immediate further cancellations of NBA games. “At a bargaining session in February 2010, Jeffrey Kessler, counsel for the union, threatened that the players would abandon the collective bargaining process and start an antitrust lawsuit against our teams if they did not get a bargaining resolution that was acceptable to them,” Stern said in a statement.
“In anticipation of this day, the NBA filed an unfair labor practice charge before the National Labor Relations Board asserting that, by virtue of its continued threats, the union was not bargaining in good faith. We also began a litigation in federal court in anticipation of this same bargaining tactic. The NBA has negotiated in good faith throughout the collective bargaining process, but – because our revised bargaining proposal was not to its liking – the union has decided to make good on Mr. Kessler’s threat. There will ultimately be a new collective bargaining agreement, but the 2011-12 season is now in jeopardy” (John Lombardo, SportsBusiness Journal).
Stern appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” this afternoon and said of the NBPA's course of action, “By this, I would say, irresponsible action at this late date, Billy Hunter has decided to put the season in jeopardy and deprive his union members of an enormous payday.” When asked if he was ready to cancel more games, Stern said, “The calendar takes care of it by itself. We’re not issuing idle threats. ... I think that the chances of the season slipping away from us and the players losing all that they have worked very hard to achieve is really a tragedy” (ESPN, 11/14).
