(NBAE/Getty Images)
Hoopy holidays!
The NBA Grinches who almost stole the season hit a buzzer beater early yesterday, dramatically reaching a tentative deal following a 15-hour, all-night negotiating session that allows games to start on Christmas Day.
The 149-day lockout, the second longest in league history, ended just days after all seemed lost and NBA Commissioner David Stern declared that the owners were preparing for a “nuclear winter.”
But Stern struck a different note at a 3:30 a.m. press conference at a Midtown law firm when he summed up the deal between players and owners by saying, simply, “We want to play basketball.”
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In the next week, the pact, which is expected to be easily passed by both owners and players, needs to be ratified with a simple majority.
Once finalized:
* The Knicks will play the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden at noon on Christmas as part of a tripleheader to highlight the league’s marquee teams and players.
* The season will be shortened by 16 games — from 82 to 66.
* For players, fewer games translates to 19 percent less in take-home salary compared with what they would have made for the full 2011-12 season.
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Stern said the agreement hinged on “a variety of approvals and very complex machinations.”
“We are very pleased that we have come this far,” he said. “There is a lot of work to be done in a lot of places … but we are optimistic that it will hold and we will have ourselves an NBA season.”
The labor dispute caused huge losses for both sides and alienated fans who were enraged while watching millionaire players bicker with billionaire owners.
The deal, which would last for 10 years — but gives each side the option of an opt-out after six years — finally happened when the players apparently blinked by agreeing to a greatly diminished share of overall revenues.
Under the previous contract, players’ salaries were 57 percent of the NBA’s basketball-related revenue, which includes ticket sales, money from TV deals and other sources.
The new accord now dictates that players will get between 49 and 51 percent of overall league revenue, depending on how well the league does financially at season’s end.
Owners relented slightly on their previous stand that players receive no more than 50 percent.
The players’ union discussed the news with more subdued enthusiasm than Stern. Derek Fisher, the union president, credited the fans for being patient throughout the negotiation process.
“The efforts that have been made have been largely with them in mind,” he said.
Union Executive Director Billy Hunter said both sides felt the need to get a deal done.
“I think it was the ability of the parties to decide it was necessary to compromise and to kind of put this thing back together,” he said.
Besides both sides voting to approve the deal, players have to drop their antitrust lawsuit against the league and reform their disbanded union.
Drug testing and other relatively minor issues still need to be hammered out.
“I think we saw a willingness of both sides to compromise yet a little more,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said.
President Obama, a die-hard hoops fan, gave a thumbs-up when told about the tentative settlement after he finished playing basketball at Fort McNair in Washington yesterday morning.
Check, please!
How much the lockout cost five of New York’s best players:
NEW JERSEY NETS
Deron Williams
* Full 2011-12 salary: $16,359,805
* Actual 2011-12 salary: $13,251,442
Money lost: $3,108,363
Brook Lopez
* Full 2011-12 salary: $3,076,983
* Actual 2011-12 salary: $2,492,356
Money lost: $584,627
NEW YORK KNICKS
Carmelo Anthony
* Full 2011-12 salary: $18,520,000
* Actual 2011-12 salary: $15,002,000
Money lost: $3,518,800
Amar’e Stoudemire
* Full 2011-12 salary: $18,217,705
* Actual 2011-12 salary: $14,756,341
Money lost: $3,461,364
Chauncey Billups
* Full 2011-12 salary: $14,200,000
* Actual 2011-12 salary: $11,502,000
Money lost: $2,698,000