An NBA Lockout could be closer than what most people anticipate, that is according to LeBron James.
JAMES ANTICIPATES NBA LOCKOUT IN 2017?
A lot has happened in this off-season, a loaded NBA Draft class, LeBron going home, Melo staying but one change could have a big effect on the future of the league and that is the TV rights deal that has been agreed that will see revenue rise to $2billion.
James, who hasn’t signed a maximum deal with the Cavaliers this summer was one of the main speakers of more ‘player friendly’ terms during the last lockout.
The TV deal means that the NBA’s salary cap will increase dramatically in the summer of 2016 due to the nine-year extension of the league’s television deal. James feels that there could be a lockout in 2017.
Via Northwest Ohio Media Group:
“We gave a lot,” James said of the 2011 collective bargaining dispute between the league’s owners and players that resulted in a lockout and shortened season. “The whole thing that went on with the last negotiation process was the owners are losing money. There’s no way they can sit in front of us and tell us that right now.
“As we continue to see teams selling for billions of dollars, being purchased for $200 million, selling for $550 million, $750 million, and now $2 billion … so that will not fly with us this time.”
DERON WILLIAMS AGREES..
Brooklyn Nets’ Deron Williams has also spoken out on this new TV deal, which to them sees the team owners earning major paydays and the players possibly getting very little, if nothing.
The players can opt out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2017 and that’s when the lockout could occur.
Via the New York Daily News:
“I think it’s going in pretty much the same direction as it was last time (lockout of 2011),” said Williams, who is Brooklyn’s union rep. “So I feel like we made a lot of concessions last time, and it’s going to be hard for us to do that again. With the new leadership we have and (former NBAPA president Billy Hunter) finally being out of the picture, which is a great thing, hopefully things will go better for us.”
[…]
“I hope guys are preparing (for a work stoppage),” said Williams, who played overseas during the 2011 lockout — a stoppage into December that cut 16 games off the NBA season. “When I first got in the league (in 2005), it’s when the old collective bargaining agreement was just kicking in. And as soon as I got in the league, they were already telling us to prepare for the next lockout. And it was ingrained in my mind. And I was prepared for that. I didn’t know that everybody did. So I would hope that people in the league learned from that and can tell the younger guys as well.
“We just have to start preparing early as a union (for a work stoppage). When we had a meeting in July, that was the focus of the meeting. We’ll be better prepared this time, we’ll be more ready to take different actions if need be.”
AND FINALLY DURANT..
Via the Oklahoman:
“That’s a lot of money,” Durant said on Tuesday. “That’s a lot of money. I don’t see how owners can say they losing money now.”
Overall, Durant said he viewed the news as a positive. “That just shows how much our game has grown,” he said. “$24 billion TV deal, that’s unheard of. So the league is a great place and we want to continue to keep it that way.”
