Peachtree Hoops: NBA Lockout: No Progress Made In First Bargaining Session

[Hawksquawk]

The NBA and the Players' Association sat down face to face for negotiations on Monday and reported no progress in the standoff between the two parties. Emerging from the negotiations, NBA commissioner David Stern dropped a bombshell when he accused the players association of not negotiating in good faith. 

Via NBA.com's reporter David Aldridge:

Stern, asked if he believed the union was negotiating in good faith: "I would say not."

 

Pretty big words from the commissioner considering it was the Player's Union that filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the NBA of the same thing. 

All of this comes on the heels of a powerful Adreian Wojnarowski story about the negotiations and particularly David Stern's involvement. The story is definitely worth taking the time to read  and is an eye opening tale of Stern's promise to a new crop of NBA owners that he would deliver them a favorable labor deal. 

This is a show. There's nothing to negotiate, nothing to discuss. The NBA commissioner has made sure of it. Stern promised a new crop of owners that should they buy into the NBA, he'd give them the most one-sided labor deal in the history of sports.

Woj goes on to discuss Stern's salary which is a reported $20-23 million a year and says that very few of the owners actually have any idea what the commissioner makes. 

These developments offer a strong reminder that things are most certainly going to get worse, perhaps a lot worse, before they get better. I have no doubts that we will see the NBA once again but how soon that is right now is anyone's guess. Maybe once the threat of lost paychecks by both sides will push them together in an effort to make a deal. However, right now it appears that one side is more content seeking out opportunities overseas and the other is cast it's blind loyalty behind a leader who has promises to keep. 

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