NBA Commences Lockout
The NBA announced that it will commence a lockout of its players, effective at 12:01 am EST on July 1, until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached with the National Basketball Players Association.
“The expiring collective bargaining agreement created a broken system that produced huge financial losses for our teams,” said NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver. “We need a sustainable business model that allows all 30 teams to be able to compete for a championship, fairly compensates our players, and provides teams, if well-managed, with an opportunity to be profitable.
“We have made several proposals to the union, including a deal targeting $2 billion annually as the players’ share – an average of approximately $5 million per player that could increase along with league revenue growth,” said Silver. “Elements of our proposal would also better align players’ pay with performance.
“We will continue to make every effort to reach a new agreement that is fair and in the best interests of our teams, our players, our fans, and our game.”
During the lockout, players will not receive their salaries; teams will not negotiate, sign or trade player contracts; players will not be able to use team facilities for any purpose; and teams will not conduct or facilitate any summer camps, exhibitions, practices, workouts, coaching sessions, or team meetings.
When do you think it will end?
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June 30th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
LakeShow84 says:
Funny to me how both the NFL and NBA have had RECORD years these past couple and yet still owners in both associations are brying broke..
I hate to be the first one to post this ignorant comment but;
It is modern day slavery.. Its politically correct slavery so to speak..
June 30th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Me says:
they should do salary slots. say each team gets 2 “max” slots of, say, 12mil.
3 tier 2 slots of like 8 mil,
3 tier 3 slots of 5 mil,
4 tier 4 slots of 2mil,
and 3 scrub slots of the league minimum.
then the best players will go to the best markets, but there’s only so many slots, so some of them, being the greedy bastards they are, will have to go to smaller markets to make that dough.
and voila! parity.
June 30th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
SayItAintSo says:
@LakeShow84
I don’t know if you realize this but slaves weren’t paid. Athletes are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions. I think everyone involved needs to just buck up. The fact that franchises are being uprooted and moving is jacked. The fact that people like Eddy Curry make more than I can hope to make in my life is jacked. The players need to give as well as the owners.
In short, calling it politically correct slaver is way off base.
June 30th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
sh!tfaced says:
Rich men (most of them white) taking kids out of school and putting them to work. Train them and trade them for a certain skill set they desire and see fit, occasionally exchanging them for money – sometimes future considerations. They own and try to control their every move, tell them what to do and how they dress. If one of them talks back, they make sure they regret it. And all that crap.
If it weren’t for the million dollar contracts, it’s the same shit.
The farms are now called cities and the harvest are now known as the mass market.
Fuck yeah, I agree with LakeShow84… lol
June 30th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
dagwaller says:
@3 agreed. Both sides need to give.
June 30th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
iCARNACKi says:
sh!tfaced killed it with his comment… real as fuck tbh.
June 30th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
IGP says:
Anyone who says this is modern day slavery is a fucking idiot! GTFOH!
If it wasn’t for the million dollar contracts it would be the same? Listen to what u are saying yo.
Calling this slavery is a HUGE insult to former slaves or people who suffered.
June 30th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
Lee says:
@ 4
The “if for the millions of dollars” is a BIG if.
The players have a choice, they can leave the nba any time they like and not be “slaves”, go get a regular job and play for fun at the weekends.
They can even choose not to take that scholarship and choose not go to college.
That’s an awful lot of choice for a “slave”.
June 30th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
IGP says:
I agree with #8 Lee
June 30th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
sh!tfaced says:
Haha. Ain’t that why they call it “modern slavery”?
Is there any common working man out there who doesn’t want to be a slave for a shot at a million dollar contract?
June 30th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
sh!tfaced says:
think the old slaves wanted to spend their lives as slaves? they saw it as an opportunity to make a difference so they can have a shot at trying to save their families.
same shit as today…
June 30th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
NYReferee says:
“Rich men (most of them white) taking kids out of school and putting them to work… They own and try to control their every move, tell them what to do and how they dress. If one of them talks back, they make sure they regret it”
Sounds like most jobs in America… most jobs have a dress code, most jobs you can’t talk back disrespectfully to your boss, and you have a job description with responsibilities that if you don’t do, you get fired.
June 30th, 2011 at 11:25 pm
cesar says:
lol @11
shitfaced knows nothinb ’bout history
June 30th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
AirKaris says:
If playing a game I love for millions of dollars is slavery… sign me up!!
June 30th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
karmatic says:
you have to spend $100 million a year on salary to win a championship. every team spends at least $45 million on salary. the players are already willing to give back $600 million, which is $20 million per year per team. tv revenues are going thru the roof. The owners as a group are asking for the moon, cause a few foolish owners are willing to spend near $100 million on salary every year to try to win a championship, while a few (lucky) owners are making huge profits, without a revenue sharing agreement in place that adequately compensates/shares with the small market owners. it takes really creative accounting to say that the owners, collectively, are likely to lose MORE than the $600 million the players are giving back next year- this is just really rich white people screwing with rich black people because they can, and because it will remove almost all of the risk of losing money on an nba franchise for a long time- rich people looking for a guarantee they will get richer, risk-free -Americans just don’t learn, do they? I’m switching to euroleague and local college hoops, thanks.
June 30th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
alf (from melmak) says:
I know it is just basketball and for most of us, we do not even personally know the owners and the players. But can they just simply understand that we (the fans) invest time, money, and emotion on the game?
Anyway, the NBA and the players might want to look at socialism and communism structures to make this work. Seriously.
Here are the basic definitions:
Capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit. Income in a capitalist system takes at least two forms, profit on the one hand and wages on the other.
Socialism: An economic system in which the means of production are publicly or commonly owned and controlled cooperatively. Socialism is based on cooperative social relations and self-management. Relatively equal power sharing.
Communism: A sociopolitical movement that aims for a classless and stateless society structured upon common ownership of the means of production, free access to articles of consumption, and the end of wage labor and private property.
July 1st, 2011 at 12:12 am
sh!tfaced says:
shit, my bad, that’s what i get for arguing with opinionless little assholes who got no real life beyond the internet…
July 1st, 2011 at 12:34 am
dagwaller says:
The real problem here is that capitalism naturally leads to PLUTOCRACY, or the rule of the wealthy.
Doesn’t matter if it’s white or black money. Doesn’t matter if that money is ruling over white, black, purple or green people.
In America, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The owners are going to make a billion dollars more, the pro athletes are going to make a million dollars more, and within 30 years, half of us that have internet connection will be lucky to have the same relative wealth.
These problems are not limited to the NBA, and anyone that thinks pro athletes are victims needs a bit of a wake-up call, no offense.
July 1st, 2011 at 12:49 am
jnuh says:
Shitfaced clearly knows something about opinions. And assholes. And Not History.
July 1st, 2011 at 5:57 am
davros says:
@sh!tfaced
You had some good points but when you ran out of steam in your argument you went personal you lost me.
I think the person who said it best was dagwaller
July 1st, 2011 at 9:33 am
bigbeans says:
just want to comment on the top post— modern day slavery? ill never make 1000,000$ in my life.
July 1st, 2011 at 10:08 am
Jacqueline Mitchell says:
This is a very sad time for fans of the NFL and the NBA . And it seems like things are really getting ugly for both leagues .Let’s get it together people time is wasting away !!!!
July 1st, 2011 at 10:56 am
SWAT says:
@shitfaced-i understand wht ur saying-especially when you consider how, for example, trades work. the “slave” is sent where ever with no explanation and has to uproot his family at the drop of a hat. BUT-the difference is slaves had no choice and had to break away to have freedom. these guys get to choose how to live, wht to spend their money on and basically how to live. That is a huge difference-and like someone said above-thats alot of choices for a “slave” It really should be looked at like throughbred horses-which sadly really isnt a much better perspective
July 1st, 2011 at 2:38 pm
SayItAintSo says:
@sh!tfaced
Am I a slave? I work at a University. My rich white boss, put me to work after high school. He trained me. Then, the University reorganized and I was moved (traded) to another department where I now work for a new rich white boss. When I’m in the office he owns and trys to control my every move. He tells me what to do, what to say, how to act and and how to dress – like a professional. If I talk back, he makes sure I regret it. And all that crap.
I don’t get paid millions of dollars. I don’t even get paid fifty thousand dollars.
My farm is an administrative building on a college campus. The harvest for me is known as the college choice process.
Playing in the NBA is nothing like slavery. Players are pampered and can do whatever they want, and in most cases, get away with it if they’re talented enough. You’re complete off base and downright offensive to draw such a comparison.
July 1st, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Chris Wise says:
“Players are pampered and can do whatever they want, and in most cases, get away with it if they’re talented enough. You’re complete off base and downright offensive to draw such a comparison.”
-LeBron did what he wanted, did he get away with that? Of course it’s modern day slavery, you dude’s are getting too caught up in the verbiage with that. Dude’s are getting paid because things evolve over time. It would be ludicrous to just exploit them for no pay, but that doesn’t mean the NBA draft isn’t equivalent to trading day at the docks.
They’re highly paid because they’re entertainers and we love our entertainers. We live vicariously through them, they bring us excitement, hope and joy, and most of all distractions from our life’s problems.
The lockouts give us great opportunity to look up for once and really see what’s going DOWN around us.
-WHOISLEBRON.COM