David Stern fired back yesterday for the first time at agents pushing NBA players toward decertification, saying it’s a bargaining ploy and if executed likely would kill the season. The NBA commissioner also warned decertification legally may void all player contracts, adding agents would get “burned.”
For now, it’s NBA tip-off on Dec. 15 or bust.
The NBA regular season — already postponed by six weeks — hangs in the balance. Union officials, the NBPA executive board and 30 player representatives will meet Monday at 9 a.m. in Manhattan with a chance to save a 72-game season by accepting what they contend is a highly unfavorable, revised 50-50 proposal.
The players are more likely to reject the proposal and tell Stern to take his Dec. 15 opening night and shove it. A lengthy decertification process then would begin, leaving the season in the hands of the courts.
The one wild card that could come out of Monday’s meeting is the union putting it to vote with the rank-and-file (all 440 players) on Tuesday — and then anything is possible.
“[Decertification] is actually calculated to, one, [serve] as a tactic to improve their bargaining position and, two, making it even more likely that there won’t be a season,” Stern said on ESPN. “If the union is not in existence, then neither are $4 billion worth of guaranteed contracts that are entered into under condition that there’s a union. So if the agents insist on playing with fire, my guess is that they would get themselves burned.”
Stern said he didn’t think the players will opt to throw it all away.
“I refuse to contemplate the loss of a season,” he said. “It’s going to be too painful for the players and the owners alike. But we’ll still be here, we’ll pick up the pieces and do the best we can under the circumstances. That’s not an eventuality that I anticipate or look forward to. It’s all in the hands of the players.”
When asked about using scabs, Stern said: “I don’t want to go there now.’’
The weakest potential result of Monday’s meeting would be a counter-offer being sent back to Stern, who said Thursday he is “through negotiating.”
Union officials lobbied hard on Tuesday to get player reps to reject the proposal. A union source told The Post they will not sugarcoat this one either, but will let the players ultimately decide.
The revised proposal isn’t much different from the one rejected Tuesday after a player-rep meeting. As union director Billy Hunter left the press conference late Thursday after two days of talks, he told The Post dejectedly: “I think it’s about the same as the last proposal. It’s not that much different.’’
Union vice president Roger Mason left options open last night.
“I obviously can’t speak on whether it will be accepted or not,’’ he stated on his website. “We are looking things over.’’
Player rep Danny Granger told the Indianapolis Star: “I would expect that proposal to be rejected after all the players learn more about the deal. The next step I don’t know.”
With their rejection last week, the players had remained hopeful their dip to a 50-50 split would lead to ownership concessions on penalties to teams in the luxury tax.
Few came and now union president Derek Fisher wants to warn the players this could be the “last-best offer.” Hunter said he expects Stern to execute his ultimatum — a “reset offer’’ of a 47-percent split and a hard salary cap.
NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the offer is “a difficult pill to swallow right now,’’ for the players because of restrictions in free-agent spending.
The convoluted system issues, as one union rep said, “are market killers for mid-level players.’’ Some minor improvements exist in the revision: the mini-midlevel exception given to taxpayers increased from $250,000 to $300,000 for three-year contracts and are provided every year rather than every other year.