FREE TIME: Locked-out Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire attends the BET Hip Hop Awards this weekend in Atlanta, where first-round pick Iman Shumpert was also on hand.
FREE TIME: Locked-out Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire attends the BET Hip Hop Awards this weekend in Atlanta, where first-round pick Iman Shumpert was also on hand. (WireImage)
They annually drop the ball in Times Square to ring in a new year. Today, commissioner David Stern may drop the ax in Times Square on a new season.
A portion of the NBA regular season may be cancelled today as one last-ditch meeting in Times Square remains. Once regular-season games are chopped, all bets are off on whether the owners who’ve lost money want to save a shortened season unless they get everything.
Optimism was at a low point after yesterday’s four-hour session at the Waldorf Astoria between a small group of negotiators. That powwow set the agenda for today’s make-or-break session. About 15 players face the ownership’s full negotiating committee in Midtown.
Meanwhile, six of the league’s top agents, including Arn Tellem, Leon Rose and Billy Duffy, have sent a powerful memorandum to their clients, essentially advising them to reject the NBA’s proposal. Citing the deep cut in the revenue split, the hard salary cap, the reduction in max contracts and mid-level exceptions, the agents said the NBA seeks “unprecedented and unjustified changes.”
Today was supposed to be the first day of training-camp workouts.
“Our backs are against the wall in terms of regular-season games and what those consequences will be,” downbeat union president Derek Fisher said. “We realize the great deal of ramifications. A lot of signs point to [today] being a very huge day. There will be a lot of pressure on all of us in the room.”
The best-case scenario is compromises are reached to extend talks through tomorrow. But Stern revealed he is getting pressure from NBA arena operators to cancel games, so they can rebook the dates.
“If it’s a short meeting, it’s bad,” Stern said. “If it’s a long meeting, it’s not as bad.”
According to an NBA source, schedule maker Matt Winnick spent the past two months devising contingency schedules for a two-week delay, a four-week delay and so on. There are contingencies in place for a 60-game schedule and a 70-game schedule.
Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said even if things go well today, a deal still can’t be hatched because “100 issues haven’t been addressed.”
The stalemate issues are the Players Association’s reluctance for a hard salary cap and the split of basketball revenue. The NBA is stuck on 46 percent for the players’ take. The union wants 53 percent. The old CBA had a 57-percent cut for players.
“We know we’re apart on the split, but we know the answer lies between where they were and where we are,” Stern said. “It would be great if we can make some real progress [today].”
Silver warned, “We can only say we’re running out of time so many times. If we don’t make our best offers in the next few days, we’ll be at a point we will be doing damage to the game, ourselves and they’re going to be out paychecks.”
If things die today, the union will have a lot to say on the owners’ stubborn stance. Fisher did not take questions, making a two-minute statement.
“We all wish we were in training camp today,” Fisher said. “I know our fans feel the same way. We’ll try to figure out a way to spare us the collateral damage of missed games — or not. But we’ll put in the effort and time.”