The gulf between the Players Association and the NBA owners isn’t just over money. It’s four more years.
According to a league source, during the last negotiation Thursday that bled into the lockout, the union raised the length of its proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement to make it a six-year deal. The union had been seeking a five-year CBA.
The owners are holding firm at 10 years and did not budge Thursday with a counteroffer, leaving the gap at four years. The lockout enters its sixth day today, and the two sides likely won’t meet until around July 15.
According to the league source, the union is vehemently opposed to locking itself into a 10-year deal because the new television contracts will dawn in six years and revenues are expected to soar. The split of the revenues this past season gave 57 percent to the players.
In the union’s last proposal, it offered the first year at a cut to 54.3 percent and a salary freeze at $2.16 billion in collective salary. In years 2-4, the proposal was to keep the split at 54.3 percent for the players. In the fifth year, their split would move to 54.8 percent, and in sixth and final year it would go up again to 55.3 percent, still two percentage points lower than the current split.
Commissioner David Stern, flanked by just two owners — the Knicks’ James Dolan and the Spurs’ Peter Holt, did not counter. A league source said Stern appeared extremely dour the whole afternoon — and appeared in the same funk when he met the media.
The union was angered Thursday when they heard Stern characterize to the press the union’s last proposal as taking the average player salary from $5 million to $6.5 million in the sixth year during a period of owners losing money. The union felt Stern completely took the offer out of context.
On Friday, the first day of the lockout, Stern ordered teams to remove pictures and videos of their players from their websites. Retired John Starks was displayed prominently on the Knicks website, replacing Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.
Ron Klempner, lead attorney for the Players Associaton, said yesterday Stern’s maneuver was not in anyone’s best interest.
“It’s unnecessary, and I can understand why some would say it’s childish,” Klempner told The Post. “It hurts business. In this industry, the players are the product. If a handbag manufacturer locks out its employees, it’s not going to take the handbags down from its website.”
The league and union are talking this week, but only over audits to compute the luxury tax for this past season, the final year of the expired CBA.
For the first time since the system was incorporated, thanks to former president Donnie Walsh, the Knicks do not have to pay luxury tax. Their 2010-11 payroll finished at $67 million, $3 million under the luxury-tax threshold. The Lakers, Magic and world champion Mavericks were the three biggest luxury-tax payers, in the neighborhood of $20 million each.
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Stoudemire was the star guest, along with Ringo Starr, at Dolan’s elaborate July 4 bash last year at his home in Oyster Cove. This July 4, Stoudemire was vacationing with his family in Las Vegas. Players could not attend Dolan’s soiree because of the lockout rules.
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Stoudemire agreeing to terms with the Knicks, when he said at an impromptu press conference outside the Garden, “The Knicks are back.”
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A source said Mike D’Antoni’s assistant coaches — Dan D’Antoni, Phil Weber, Herb Williams and Kenny Atkinson — have signed contract extensions for next season, though the club has not and will not announce it. D’Antoni has plans to add another defensive assistant to the staff.