2011 NBA lockout
Encyclopedia
The 2011 NBA lockout is the fourth lockout
in the history
of the National Basketball Association
(NBA). The owners began the work stoppage at 12:01 am EDT
(4:01 am UTC
) on July 1, 2011. The main issues dividing the owners and the players are revenue sharing
and the structure of the salary cap
. During the lockout, teams cannot trade, sign or contact players and players can't access NBA team facilities, trainers or staffs. All preseason games and the first six weeks of the through December 15, have been canceled. Some players have signed contracts to play in other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, and most players have the option to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout ends. On November 26, the players and owners reached a tentative deal, including a 66-game season, with games commencing on December 25. Owners allowed players to have voluntary workouts at team sites starting December 1. The lockout will end when the players, represented by the National Basketball Players Association
(NBPA), ratify a deal with the NBA owners.
Negotiations on a new CBA began in early 2011. The league claimed that it was losing $300 million a year (22 out of 30 teams were losing money last season) and proposed to reduce 40% of players' salary (about $800 million) and institute a hard salary cap
(at $45 million per team) as opposed to a soft cap (at $58 million) currently in use. The union disputed those figures and steadfastly opposed those changes. Players union director Billy Hunter said that he was advising players to prepare for a lockout. In May 2011, the NBPA filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB), accusing the league of negotiating in bad faith by failing to provide critical financial data to the union and repeatedly threatening to lock out players. The NBA quickly rejected the complaint, saying that the league complies fully with federal labor laws. The union also considered the option of decertification, which allows players to file an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA.
With time winding down, negotiations continued in May and June. On the salary cap, the owners, in their newest proposal, call for a system called the "flex cap" that limits payroll at $62 million but penalizes teams if average payroll of all teams exceeds that amount. The union argued that it is still a hard cap because the ceiling would kick in eventually. On salary reduction, players offered to cut $500 million over the next five years (their share of BRI would be reduced from 57 to 54.3 percent). The owners instead proposed to cut $2 billion over the next 10 years.
As a last-ditch effort to avert a lockout, owners and players met again on June 30, 2011, to negotiate, but both sides failed to reach a resolution on key issues like salary cap and BRI splits. Both Stern and Hunter said that the two sides remained far apart. The owners demanded a larger share, claiming that they were losing money. The players, on the other hand, were willing to make concessions, but they refused to completely cave in to owners' demands. Negotiations broke off, and the CBA expired at midnight.
The NBPA and the owners returned to negotiate for the second time on August 31 with a sense of urgency. No specifics were disclosed although both sides hoped to meet again soon. "Everyone loses if we don't reach an agreement, that's something that I think has always been understood," said union president and Los Angeles Lakers
guard Derek Fisher
. "I will say we are not apart in terms of an agreed urgency on getting a deal done," said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver
.
The union and owners met again on September 13 but the negotiation soon collapsed. The salary cap structure remained the main source of disagreement. Owners wanted to create a hard cap for team payroll. The union wanted to keep the current structure intact, referring to it as a "blood issue". Players were willing to cut salary only if owners agree to compromise on the salary cap. But owners were unwilling to concede, saying that there must be a system in place that allows all teams to compete. Five of the sports agent
s—Arn Tellem
, Bill Duffy, Mark Bartelstein, Jeff Schwartz and Dan Fegan
—who represent one-third of NBA players spoke with each other about decertifying the union. They believed owners have most of the leverage in negotiation and viewed decertification as a way for players to take control. Hunter said however that players have not considered decertification at this point.
On September 15, Fisher sent an email out to 400-plus players asking for unity. In the email, he said that the recent meetings were "effective". He suggested that the failure of having a deal was not due to disagreement between players and owners, but due to disagreement among owners. Fisher also used the opportunity to counter agents' suggestion of disbanding the union, saying that they were not making "a drastic move that leaves players without a union". According to sources, there was indeed disagreement among the owners. Some thought players' proposal of taking 52% of BRI was fair, and were willing to compromise on things like tying players' future earnings to NBA's future revenue growth and maintaining current salary level. Cavaliers
' Dan Gilbert and Suns'
Robert Sarver
were among the hardliners who oppose the deal while Knicks'
James Dolan and the Lakers' Jerry Buss
were among the group in favor of it. Stern denied that there was a rift among owners the following day, saying, "I don't know what the basis of Derek's belief is."
that Stern plans to threaten the cancellation of the entire season if no deal is made, but that the union sees this as a scare tactic and not a serious threat. Commentators speculated that Stern wants to put pressure on the players and prevent negotiation from dragging through the fall. The meeting on September 30 was tense as Dwyane Wade
reportedly yelled at Stern after he pointed his finger at Wade. The players nearly stormed out, but they remained in the meeting only after Hunter asked them to. Stern also backed down from his earlier threat that he would cancel the season if there is no deal.
On October 4, the NBA canceled the remainder of the preseason. Stern said the league would lose $200 million from cancelling the preseason, and warned that the first two weeks of the regular season would also be canceled if a deal was not reached by October 10. The players proposed that they receive 53 percent of BRI, while the owners countered with 47 percent. The two sides then discussed a 50-50 split of BRI, with the owners offering the players 49 percent of BRI with incentives that would raise the value to 51 percent. The players countered by asking for 51 percent, which would increase to 53 percent using those same incentives. It was rejected by the owners. Attempts for the sides to meet on October 7 failed. The union said the NBA demanded a 50-50 revenue split prior to the meeting, while the league refuted making any such demands. After talks on October 9 and 10, the two sides were unable to reach a deal and Stern subsequently canceled the first two weeks of regular-season games. BRI remained the main issue, but other differences between the two sides included topics such as luxury tax
, player contract length, and the mid-level exception. The owners proposed a $2 tax for every $1 that a team spends above the tax threshold for player salaries. The tax would rise to as high as $4 for every $1 above the limit for teams that are repeat offenders. The previous CBA in comparison called for a $1 tax for every $1 over the limit. The players refused to accept a hard salary cap, which they felt the more punitive luxury taxes would effectively create. Stern said the owners felt a harsher luxury tax would make the league more competitive. Wade countered that a small-market team like the San Antonio Spurs
had won multiple championships. Andrew Zimbalist
, an economist at Smith College
, said that "the statistical correlation between payroll and win percentage is practically nonexistent" in the NBA. ESPN.com
wrote that an NBA team's draft
efficiency accounted for 34 percent of its winning percentage
in the past decade, while payroll showed only a 7 percent correlation. The New York Times
noted that a fairer system was needed for the small-market teams, but the league's popularity historically relied on predictably successful teams with multiple superstars.
NBPA leaders met with around 30 players on October 14 and stressed unity. Washington Wizards
player JaVale McGee
left the meeting early and told reporters there were some players in the meeting "saying that they're ready to fold", but the majority was united. McGee later denied mentioning that players were ready to fold, but his comment was recorded by reporters. Fisher said McGee had "no ability to make that statement" based on the limited time he spent at the meeting.
Owners and players met again on October 18–20 for 30 hours of talks over three days. They met before a federal mediator, George Cohen
—the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Cohen earlier in the year tried unsuccessfully to resolve the 2011 NFL lockout
. At the conclusion of the meetings, the sides remained split on the revenue split and the structure of the salary cap. The league proposed a 50-50 split of BRI, and the players proposed a range that would allow them as low as 50 percent of BRI to a maximum of 53%, depending on the league's revenues. Gilbert told the players to trust that the salary cap issues could be resolved if they accepted the 50-50 proposal. Hunter responded, "I can't trust your gut. I got to trust my own gut." Silver and San Antonio Spurs
owner Peter Holt
told reporters that the players refused to negotiate after the 50-50 proposal. Fisher told the press "that you guys were lied to" by the owners. Hunter said the owners told them, "Take it or leave it." Cohen decided that there was "no useful purpose" to continue mediation with the two sides. Tentative agreements were reached on smaller issues, allowing a one-time exemption for teams to waive players without counting against the salary cap, granting teams an annual exemption to waive players and prorate the impact to the salary cap over multiple years, and a mid-level exception of $5 million.
Hunter characterized the small-market owners as being inflexible to negotiating a deal. However, The New York Times wrote that the views of individual owners "cannot be easily categorized by market size, revenue, personal wealth or championship aspirations." Dallas Mavericks
owner Mark Cuban
, whose team is in the fifth-largest market and has one of the highest payrolls, is as interested as small-market owners in changing the economy of the NBA. Portland Trail Blazers
owner Paul Allen
, the 23rd-wealthiest person in America, also supports cutting player salaries in an effort to increase competition. While owners of profitable teams like Buss and Dolan are willing to accept modest changes to the CBA, they remain united with the small-market teams based on concerns for the league's long-term health.
Despite the earlier cancellation announcement, the players and the league hoped that a full 82-game schedule could be salvaged if a deal was reached in time. On October 28, Stern announced the cancellation of all games through November 30 after negotiations regarding division of revenue ended without an agreement. He said that Hunter was unwilling "to go a penny below 52 [percent]" on BRI, while Hunter said, "We made a lot of concessions, but unfortunately at this time it's not enough." Stern indicated that an 82-game season was no longer possible. He added that there was a tentative agreement reached for maximum contract lengths of five years for players staying with their teams or four years when signing with another team.
Reports of division among players and owners surfaced. Jason Whitlock
of Foxsports.com
wrote that Fisher was privately working with Stern on the 50-50 split and that Hunter confronted Fisher about the issue. Fisher and Stern denied a private meeting took place. In a letter to the players, Fisher called the reports questioning his loyalty "absurd" and demanded "a retraction for the libelous and defamatory stories" through his attorneys. Hunter said his "relationship with Derek is very good. There was no confrontation." Fisher, as union president, is not empowered to make unilateral decisions for the union. While Fisher believed a 50-50 deal could be considered, Hunter maintained that the owners should never "make the same or more than the players." Miami Heat
owner Micky Arison
, one of the owners willing to settle with players, responded to a fan complaining about greedy owners and players on Twitter
. Arison replied to the fan, "You are barking at the wrong owner." He was fined $500,000 by Stern, five times larger than any previous amount against an owner for publicly commenting on the lockout. A group of 10 to 14 hardline owners want to cap the players' share of BRI at 50 percent and as low as 47. The group is led by Charlotte Bobcats
owner Michael Jordan
. During the labor dispute in 1998, then-player Jordan told Washington Wizards
then-owner Abe Pollin
, "If you can’t make a profit, you should sell your team." Whitlock called Jordan a "sellout" wanting "current players to pay for his incompetence." He cited Jordan's executive decisions to draft disappointing players Kwame Brown
and Adam Morrison
.
In early November, about 50 players renewed talks of union decertification if the union went lower than 52.5 percent of BRI or agreed to additional restrictions on contracts, salary-cap exceptions, or free agency. Decertifying would require that 30 percent of the union—about 130 players—sign a petition, allowing an election under the auspices of the NLRB by all NBPA members to decertify with a simple majority
. The NLRB traditionally does not consider a decertification petition while a charge is pending, such as the NBPA's unfair labor practice charges filed in August.
The owners and players union met on November 6, and they were joined again by federal mediator Cohen. The players proposed that they receive 51 percent of BRI, with a one percent portion taken out for retired players. The owners offered a "band" that would pay the players 49 to 51 percent, depending on revenue growth. Jeff Kessler
, the union’s attorney, said the league's proposal was really 50.2 percent and called the possibility of reaching 51 percent a "fraud" and an "illusion." The league also proposed restrictions for teams that pay the luxury tax, banning them from sign and trade
deals and limiting their use of the mid-level exception. They also proposed a "repeater tax" for teams that exceed the tax threshold thrice in a five-year span. Stern issued an ultimatum, giving the players until November 9 to accept the deal before it is lowered to 47 percent BRI and a flex salary cap.
On November 15, the NBA canceled all games through December 15.
, enabling the players as individual employees to be represented by lawyers in a class action antitrust lawsuit against the league, calling the lockout an illegal group boycott
. Attorney David Boies
, who represented the NFL owners in their 2011 lockout, agreed to represent the players and join sides with Keesler, who also represented the players in the NFL lockout. On November 15, one group of NBA players (including Carmelo Anthony
, Chauncey Billups
, Kawhi Leonard
, and Leon Powe
) filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA in a California federal court, while another (including Anthony Tolliver
, Ben Gordon, Caron Butler
and Derrick Williams
) filed their own suit against the NBA in a Minnesota federal court. November 15 was also the day players were to receive their first paychecks if the season was played.
On November 21, the California lawsuit was dropped in order to merge with the Minnesota lawsuit. Boies hoped that the move would speed up the process since the courts will likely merge the suits as they are similar complaints seeking the same outcome. The league has until December 5 to respond in court.
on his HBO Real Sports show in October likened Stern's role in the lockout to a "modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys ... keeping the hired hands in their place." The NBA owners are predominantly white
, while the players are mostly black
. ESPN noted that William C. Rhoden
in his book $40 Million Slaves had earlier dealt with the topic of players as "slaves" in spite of earning millions of dollars. Stern dismissed Gumbel's comments as "an occupational hazard" of being the NBA commissioner. In early November, Kessler criticized the owners' "take it or leave it" bargaining approach: "Instead of treating the players like partners, they’re treating them like plantation workers." Hall of Famer Magic Johnson
called the comments "ridiculous" and defended Stern's record of promoting blacks. ESPN The Magazine
said that the NBPA did not condone Kessler's statements, and they had intentionally avoided getting involved with Gumbel's earlier remarks. Kessler later apologized for his comments.
, the average player lost $220,000 after the first missed paycheck on November 15. However, each players did receive $100,000 from the NBA to compensate for salaries falling below the 57 percent BRI level in 2010–11. As of October 25, an estimated 400 NBA jobs were lost due to layoffs and attrition since the lockout—around 200 in the league office and another 200 among the 30 teams. As the lockout dragged on toward the holiday season, many NBA arenas workers felt the impact. Many of them work part-time in order to supplement their income or to simply pay bills and they cannot get back the money they could have earned from the cancelled games.
The NBA needs three to four weeks to start the season once deal has been finalized for the 2011–12 season. The league will build a new schedule from scratch based on available arena dates. In October, the league allowed arenas in Los Angeles
and Chicago
to reassign NBA dates for other events. The number of games between conferences could be affected as was the case in the 1999 lockout, when each team played only five or six interconference games in a 50-game schedule. Normally, each team plays teams in the other conference twice each.
, who played for Greek team Olympiacos before returning to the NBA in 2010, said he would not consider playing overseas during the lockout. He cited concerns with reliability of getting paid, differences in coaching styles, and lower standards of business travel compared to the NBA. International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced on July 29 that it would allow players under NBA contract to play overseas, provided that the contracts they signed have opt-out clauses that allow players to return once the work stoppage ends. Stern said the league would allow players to play overseas, but he warned that it could divide the union and possibly jeopardize players' contracts if they were seriously injured. Most leagues permitted the signing of locked-out NBA players with the option of opting out; the Chinese Basketball Association
, however, only allowed its clubs to sign foreign free agent
s who could play for at least the entire season.
More than 90 players have decided to sign with foreign teams during the lockout. The New York Times
called the migration of players overseas "one of the most overblown stories of the lockout" with a majority of those signing being "rookies, middling veterans and fringe players." Deron Williams
is the only 2011 All-Star
going overseas, signing a one-year contract for $5 million to play for Beşiktaş of the Turkish Basketball League
. Former first overall draft pick Kenyon Martin
, a free agent, signed a one-year contract with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers
of the Chinese Basketball Association that will make him the highest paid player in the league's history at $500,000 a month. However, he would not be able to return to the NBA until the Chinese season ends in March. Unlike players who signed more lucrative contracts overseas, three-time NBA champion Tony Parker
opted to play for the minimum wage of $2,000 per month with ASVEL Basket, the French team he partly owns. Parker joined several foreign players, such as Leandro Barbosa
, Boris Diaw
, Rudy Fernández
, Andrei Kirilenko
and Mehmet Okur
, who opted to play in their home countries until the lockout ends.
An NBA player playing in Europe could earn as little as $50,000–$75,000 per month, while the average NBA annual salary was $5.8 million with the minimum around $500,000. The large contracts signed by Williams and Martin are extreme exceptions. In October after the cancellation of regular season games, it was not anticipated that many additional NBA players would be signed overseas; leagues had started playing, their rosters were full, and new players could disrupt the teams.
, the Melo League located in Baltimore
or the Goodman League in Washington, D.C.
An exhibition game between the two leagues was played on August 20, 2011, with the Goodman League defeating the Drew League, 135–134. Drew commissioner Dino Smiley said such pro–am
games during the NBA off-season were not new, but "the lockout has taken these games to a new level". A tournament of NBA-only players was held in September in Las Vegas, Nevada
, featuring eight teams with seven to eight players each. Named the Impact Basketball Competitive Training Series, the league was dubbed by The New York Times
as the "Lockout League".
Training camp was not expected to be long if there ended up being a season. Some players organized workouts for their teams to build team chemistry. The NBPA announced it was setting up workout centers in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston and possibly Miami for players to workout at the union's expense.
The continuing lockout in October and the canceled preseason allowed Renaldo Balkman
, José Juan Barea
and Carlos Arroyo
to play for Puerto Rico in the Pan American Games that month. Puerto Rico won the gold medal.
was then more than a year away, qualifying tournaments in all five of FIBA's continental zones were to be held in the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2011 (the traditional basketball offseason throughout the world). The lockout resulted in the suspension of an agreement between the NBA and FIBA by which the NBA would take on most of the costs for insuring the value of its players' contracts in the event they were injured during international competition. As a result, national federations that wish to have NBA players on their squads must now provide full coverage instead of supplemental insurance.
These costs are surprisingly high—one agent
who represents an unnamed NBA player set to earn $
10 million in the 2010–11 season said the player had received a $400,000 quote to insure his contract for his national team's FIBA qualifier. The Spanish Basketball Federation
said that insuring all the NBA players on its national team
for EuroBasket 2011
, which doubles as the European
Olympic qualifiers, could cost as much as $5.67 million. Basketball Australia
announced that Andrew Bogut
would not be available for the 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship
; his agent indicated that the final deal-breaker was when insurers stated that they would not insure his remaining $39 million in NBA salary unless pre-existing elbow, wrist, and back injuries were excluded from the policy.
The French
, Russian and Argentine
federations were able to insure their NBA players, and several other federations were also expected to be able to do so. Over 30 NBA players participated in EuroBasket 2011
, while Ben Gordon and Marcin Gortat
opted out due to insurance concerns.
and Bloomberg Businessweek speculated on the prospect of increased interest in the National Hockey League
(NHL) among NBA fans. The NHL had experienced steady growth since the 2005–06 season, and they again opened the 2011–12 season
in early October to record crowds. Businessweek wrote, "Just maybe, the NBA’s sketchy situation is already having a positive effect on the NHL." However several NHL teams (nearly half of which do not have an NBA team in their market) had no plans to market directly to NBA fans during the lockout.
The University of Texas at San Antonio
(UTSA), in its inaugural college football
season
, drew 40,000 fans to its games in September. The San Antonio Business Journal speculated on UTSA's opportunities to grow its fan base with the canceled NBA games in San Antonio.
Boston Herald
speculated that NCAA college basketball
would have higher television ratings and attendance during the lockout. However, Sporting News noted that "there was no obvious boost in popularity in the college game" during the previous lockout
when college basketball attendance increased by an average of 21 people per game.
and NBPA chief Billy Hunter
, requesting that they end the lockout based on "the perspective [of city] residents and the negative impact a canceled season might have on them, our cities, and our local economies." TIME
noted that arena workers would be affected by the cancellation of games. However, separate studies by University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Lake Forest College
found no historic significant impact to the economies of cities with sports franchises affected by work stoppages. Explanations included consumer shifting of spending on sporting events to other forms of entertainment, reduced local government spending on crowd and traffic control, and higher productivity by the general workforce without the distraction of games.
Lockout (industry)
A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
in the history
NBA lockout
The NBA lockout may refer to any of the four lockouts in the history of the National Basketball Association:*The 1995 NBA lockout, which lasted for three months before the 1995–96 season...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA). The owners began the work stoppage at 12:01 am EDT
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
(4:01 am UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) on July 1, 2011. The main issues dividing the owners and the players are revenue sharing
Revenue sharing
Revenue sharing has multiple, related meanings depending on context.In business, revenue sharing refers to the sharing of profits and losses among different groups. One form shares between the general partner and limited partners in a limited partnership...
and the structure of the salary cap
Salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap is a cartel agreement between teams that places a limit on the amount of money that can be spent on player salaries. The limit exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both...
. During the lockout, teams cannot trade, sign or contact players and players can't access NBA team facilities, trainers or staffs. All preseason games and the first six weeks of the through December 15, have been canceled. Some players have signed contracts to play in other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, and most players have the option to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout ends. On November 26, the players and owners reached a tentative deal, including a 66-game season, with games commencing on December 25. Owners allowed players to have voluntary workouts at team sites starting December 1. The lockout will end when the players, represented by the National Basketball Players Association
National Basketball Players Association
The National Basketball Players Association is a trade association that represents basketball players in the National Basketball Association . It was previously a labor union before dissolving during the 2011 NBA lockout. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major...
(NBPA), ratify a deal with the NBA owners.
Chronology
- July 1, 2011: The lockout begins.
- September 23, 2011: The NBA canceled training camp, which was to begin October 3, and the first week of preseason games, which were to run October 9 through 15.
- October 4, 2011: The NBA canceled the remainder of the preseason.
- October 10, 2011: The first two weeks of the regular season canceled.
- October 28, 2011: All games through November 30 canceled.
- November 14, 2011: The NBPA dissolves labor union into a trade associationTrade associationA trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...
.
Negotiations on a new CBA began in early 2011. The league claimed that it was losing $300 million a year (22 out of 30 teams were losing money last season) and proposed to reduce 40% of players' salary (about $800 million) and institute a hard salary cap
NBA Salary Cap
The NBA salary cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed to pay their players. This limit is subject to a complex system of rules and exceptions and as such is considered a "soft" cap....
(at $45 million per team) as opposed to a soft cap (at $58 million) currently in use. The union disputed those figures and steadfastly opposed those changes. Players union director Billy Hunter said that he was advising players to prepare for a lockout. In May 2011, the NBPA filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
(NLRB), accusing the league of negotiating in bad faith by failing to provide critical financial data to the union and repeatedly threatening to lock out players. The NBA quickly rejected the complaint, saying that the league complies fully with federal labor laws. The union also considered the option of decertification, which allows players to file an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA.
With time winding down, negotiations continued in May and June. On the salary cap, the owners, in their newest proposal, call for a system called the "flex cap" that limits payroll at $62 million but penalizes teams if average payroll of all teams exceeds that amount. The union argued that it is still a hard cap because the ceiling would kick in eventually. On salary reduction, players offered to cut $500 million over the next five years (their share of BRI would be reduced from 57 to 54.3 percent). The owners instead proposed to cut $2 billion over the next 10 years.
As a last-ditch effort to avert a lockout, owners and players met again on June 30, 2011, to negotiate, but both sides failed to reach a resolution on key issues like salary cap and BRI splits. Both Stern and Hunter said that the two sides remained far apart. The owners demanded a larger share, claiming that they were losing money. The players, on the other hand, were willing to make concessions, but they refused to completely cave in to owners' demands. Negotiations broke off, and the CBA expired at midnight.
Initial months
The lockout was officially started by the owners on July 1, 2011, and negotiations resumed at an August 1 bargaining session, but it fell apart after three hours. On August 2, 2011, the NBA filed two unfair labor practice claims against the NBPA, one at the NLRB and another at a federal district court in New York. The league accused the players of being uncooperative in negotiations by making threats to dissolve their union and file antitrust lawsuits. Hunter, in a statement released by the union, called the lawsuit "without merit" and that the union will seek to dismiss it in court. On August 4, Hunter said that he thought the entire would likely be canceled.The NBPA and the owners returned to negotiate for the second time on August 31 with a sense of urgency. No specifics were disclosed although both sides hoped to meet again soon. "Everyone loses if we don't reach an agreement, that's something that I think has always been understood," said union president and Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
guard Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher
Derek Lamar Fisher is an American professional basketball point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His NBA career has spanned more than 14 years, during which he has won five NBA Championships...
. "I will say we are not apart in terms of an agreed urgency on getting a deal done," said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver
Adam Silver
Adam Silver is the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of the National Basketball Association. He has held this post since July 2006.According to his NBA 101 information page, Silver has been with the league for over 14 years...
.
The union and owners met again on September 13 but the negotiation soon collapsed. The salary cap structure remained the main source of disagreement. Owners wanted to create a hard cap for team payroll. The union wanted to keep the current structure intact, referring to it as a "blood issue". Players were willing to cut salary only if owners agree to compromise on the salary cap. But owners were unwilling to concede, saying that there must be a system in place that allows all teams to compete. Five of the sports agent
Sports agent
A sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...
s—Arn Tellem
Arn Tellem
Arn H. Tellem is a sports agent notable for his representation of basketball and baseball players. He is the principal of WMG Management, a part of the Wasserman Media Group headed by Casey Wasserman. Since 2009 he has written a weekly sports column for The Huffington Post...
, Bill Duffy, Mark Bartelstein, Jeff Schwartz and Dan Fegan
Dan Fegan
Dan Fegan is a prominent NBA agent. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and operates out of a Los Angeles law firm. His first client was Chris Dudley, a friend from Yale.-References:* Abbott, Henry . Accessed October 2011....
—who represent one-third of NBA players spoke with each other about decertifying the union. They believed owners have most of the leverage in negotiation and viewed decertification as a way for players to take control. Hunter said however that players have not considered decertification at this point.
On September 15, Fisher sent an email out to 400-plus players asking for unity. In the email, he said that the recent meetings were "effective". He suggested that the failure of having a deal was not due to disagreement between players and owners, but due to disagreement among owners. Fisher also used the opportunity to counter agents' suggestion of disbanding the union, saying that they were not making "a drastic move that leaves players without a union". According to sources, there was indeed disagreement among the owners. Some thought players' proposal of taking 52% of BRI was fair, and were willing to compromise on things like tying players' future earnings to NBA's future revenue growth and maintaining current salary level. Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
' Dan Gilbert and Suns'
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
Robert Sarver
Robert Sarver
Robert Sarver is the current majority owner of the Phoenix Suns. He bought the NBA franchise from Jerry Colangelo in the spring of 2004....
were among the hardliners who oppose the deal while Knicks'
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
James Dolan and the Lakers' Jerry Buss
Jerry Buss
Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss Ph.D., M.S. is an American businessman, real estate investor, and a former chemist. He is the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team along with other professional sports franchises in Southern California...
were among the group in favor of it. Stern denied that there was a rift among owners the following day, saying, "I don't know what the basis of Derek's belief is."
Cancellations
On September 23, 2011, the NBA canceled training camp, which was to begin October 3, and the first week of preseason games, which were to run October 9 through 15. The incident marks only the second time in league history that games have been lost to a labor stoppage. Both the owners and the union had planned to meet on September 30 in New York and pledged to continue through the weekends if progress was being made. A source close to the situation leaked to ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
that Stern plans to threaten the cancellation of the entire season if no deal is made, but that the union sees this as a scare tactic and not a serious threat. Commentators speculated that Stern wants to put pressure on the players and prevent negotiation from dragging through the fall. The meeting on September 30 was tense as Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. nicknamed Flash or D-Wade, is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat. Awarded 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, Wade has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league...
reportedly yelled at Stern after he pointed his finger at Wade. The players nearly stormed out, but they remained in the meeting only after Hunter asked them to. Stern also backed down from his earlier threat that he would cancel the season if there is no deal.
On October 4, the NBA canceled the remainder of the preseason. Stern said the league would lose $200 million from cancelling the preseason, and warned that the first two weeks of the regular season would also be canceled if a deal was not reached by October 10. The players proposed that they receive 53 percent of BRI, while the owners countered with 47 percent. The two sides then discussed a 50-50 split of BRI, with the owners offering the players 49 percent of BRI with incentives that would raise the value to 51 percent. The players countered by asking for 51 percent, which would increase to 53 percent using those same incentives. It was rejected by the owners. Attempts for the sides to meet on October 7 failed. The union said the NBA demanded a 50-50 revenue split prior to the meeting, while the league refuted making any such demands. After talks on October 9 and 10, the two sides were unable to reach a deal and Stern subsequently canceled the first two weeks of regular-season games. BRI remained the main issue, but other differences between the two sides included topics such as luxury tax
Luxury tax (sports)
A luxury tax in professional sports is a surcharge put on the aggregate payroll of a team to the extent to which it exceeds a predetermined guideline level set by the league...
, player contract length, and the mid-level exception. The owners proposed a $2 tax for every $1 that a team spends above the tax threshold for player salaries. The tax would rise to as high as $4 for every $1 above the limit for teams that are repeat offenders. The previous CBA in comparison called for a $1 tax for every $1 over the limit. The players refused to accept a hard salary cap, which they felt the more punitive luxury taxes would effectively create. Stern said the owners felt a harsher luxury tax would make the league more competitive. Wade countered that a small-market team like the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
had won multiple championships. Andrew Zimbalist
Andrew Zimbalist
Andrew S. Zimbalist is an American economist. He is currently the Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College....
, an economist at Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, said that "the statistical correlation between payroll and win percentage is practically nonexistent" in the NBA. ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
wrote that an NBA team's draft
NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is an annual event in which the thirty teams from the National Basketball Association can draft players who are eligible and wish to join the league. These players are usually amateur U.S. college basketball players, but international players are also eligible to be drafted...
efficiency accounted for 34 percent of its winning percentage
Winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win...
in the past decade, while payroll showed only a 7 percent correlation. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
noted that a fairer system was needed for the small-market teams, but the league's popularity historically relied on predictably successful teams with multiple superstars.
NBPA leaders met with around 30 players on October 14 and stressed unity. Washington Wizards
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association .-Early years:...
player JaVale McGee
JaVale McGee
JaVale McGee is an American professional basketball player who was selected 18th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2008 NBA Draft. He is a center who is listed at 7'0" and 252 lb...
left the meeting early and told reporters there were some players in the meeting "saying that they're ready to fold", but the majority was united. McGee later denied mentioning that players were ready to fold, but his comment was recorded by reporters. Fisher said McGee had "no ability to make that statement" based on the limited time he spent at the meeting.
Owners and players met again on October 18–20 for 30 hours of talks over three days. They met before a federal mediator, George Cohen
George H. Cohen
George H. Cohen is the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in the United States. He was appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama....
—the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Cohen earlier in the year tried unsuccessfully to resolve the 2011 NFL lockout
2011 NFL lockout
The 2011 National Football League lockout was a lockout that lasted from March 11 to July 25. It occurred primarily during the offseason for 18 weeks and 4 days...
. At the conclusion of the meetings, the sides remained split on the revenue split and the structure of the salary cap. The league proposed a 50-50 split of BRI, and the players proposed a range that would allow them as low as 50 percent of BRI to a maximum of 53%, depending on the league's revenues. Gilbert told the players to trust that the salary cap issues could be resolved if they accepted the 50-50 proposal. Hunter responded, "I can't trust your gut. I got to trust my own gut." Silver and San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
owner Peter Holt
Peter Holt
Peter M. Holt is a businessman. He is the CEO of Holt Cat, the largest Caterpillar dealership in the United States and chairman, CEO, and owner of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the 4-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, theWNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars, the AHL's San Antonio Rampage,...
told reporters that the players refused to negotiate after the 50-50 proposal. Fisher told the press "that you guys were lied to" by the owners. Hunter said the owners told them, "Take it or leave it." Cohen decided that there was "no useful purpose" to continue mediation with the two sides. Tentative agreements were reached on smaller issues, allowing a one-time exemption for teams to waive players without counting against the salary cap, granting teams an annual exemption to waive players and prorate the impact to the salary cap over multiple years, and a mid-level exception of $5 million.
Hunter characterized the small-market owners as being inflexible to negotiating a deal. However, The New York Times wrote that the views of individual owners "cannot be easily categorized by market size, revenue, personal wealth or championship aspirations." Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...
owner Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....
, whose team is in the fifth-largest market and has one of the highest payrolls, is as interested as small-market owners in changing the economy of the NBA. Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
owner Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
, the 23rd-wealthiest person in America, also supports cutting player salaries in an effort to increase competition. While owners of profitable teams like Buss and Dolan are willing to accept modest changes to the CBA, they remain united with the small-market teams based on concerns for the league's long-term health.
Despite the earlier cancellation announcement, the players and the league hoped that a full 82-game schedule could be salvaged if a deal was reached in time. On October 28, Stern announced the cancellation of all games through November 30 after negotiations regarding division of revenue ended without an agreement. He said that Hunter was unwilling "to go a penny below 52 [percent]" on BRI, while Hunter said, "We made a lot of concessions, but unfortunately at this time it's not enough." Stern indicated that an 82-game season was no longer possible. He added that there was a tentative agreement reached for maximum contract lengths of five years for players staying with their teams or four years when signing with another team.
Reports of division among players and owners surfaced. Jason Whitlock
Jason Whitlock
Jason Lee Whitlock is a sportswriter for Foxsports.com, as well as a former columnist at the Kansas City Star, AOL Sports writer, contributor to ESPN, and radio personality for WHB and KCSP sports stations in the Kansas City area.-College and sports:Whitlock was an all-state offensive lineman at...
of Foxsports.com
Foxsports.com
Foxsports.com provides sports news, scores, sports statistics, sports and entertainment video, sports fantasy leagues and fantasy information. Launched in July 2001, it is a unit of Fox Interactive Media, which also includes other News Corporation online businesses, including MySpace, IGN...
wrote that Fisher was privately working with Stern on the 50-50 split and that Hunter confronted Fisher about the issue. Fisher and Stern denied a private meeting took place. In a letter to the players, Fisher called the reports questioning his loyalty "absurd" and demanded "a retraction for the libelous and defamatory stories" through his attorneys. Hunter said his "relationship with Derek is very good. There was no confrontation." Fisher, as union president, is not empowered to make unilateral decisions for the union. While Fisher believed a 50-50 deal could be considered, Hunter maintained that the owners should never "make the same or more than the players." Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
owner Micky Arison
Micky Arison
Micky Arison is an Israeli-American businessman of Romanian Jewish ancestry, and Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise operator, and owner of the NBA's Miami Heat....
, one of the owners willing to settle with players, responded to a fan complaining about greedy owners and players on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. Arison replied to the fan, "You are barking at the wrong owner." He was fined $500,000 by Stern, five times larger than any previous amount against an owner for publicly commenting on the lockout. A group of 10 to 14 hardline owners want to cap the players' share of BRI at 50 percent and as low as 47. The group is led by Charlotte Bobcats
Charlotte Bobcats
The Charlotte Bobcats is a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. The Bobcats were established in 2004 as an expansion team, two seasons after Charlotte's previous NBA...
owner Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
. During the labor dispute in 1998, then-player Jordan told Washington Wizards
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association .-Early years:...
then-owner Abe Pollin
Abe Pollin
Abe Pollin was the owner of a number of professional sports teams including the Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League , the Washington Mystics in the Women's National Basketball Association , and the Washington Wizards in the National Basketball Association...
, "If you can’t make a profit, you should sell your team." Whitlock called Jordan a "sellout" wanting "current players to pay for his incompetence." He cited Jordan's executive decisions to draft disappointing players Kwame Brown
Kwame Brown
Kwame James Brown is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Charlotte Bobcats. The , center was the 1st overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, and was the first number one draft pick to be selected straight out of high school...
and Adam Morrison
Adam Morrison
Adam John Morrison is an American basketball player who is currently free agent after being released from KK Crvena zvezda....
.
In early November, about 50 players renewed talks of union decertification if the union went lower than 52.5 percent of BRI or agreed to additional restrictions on contracts, salary-cap exceptions, or free agency. Decertifying would require that 30 percent of the union—about 130 players—sign a petition, allowing an election under the auspices of the NLRB by all NBPA members to decertify with a simple majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
. The NLRB traditionally does not consider a decertification petition while a charge is pending, such as the NBPA's unfair labor practice charges filed in August.
The owners and players union met on November 6, and they were joined again by federal mediator Cohen. The players proposed that they receive 51 percent of BRI, with a one percent portion taken out for retired players. The owners offered a "band" that would pay the players 49 to 51 percent, depending on revenue growth. Jeff Kessler
Jeffrey L. Kessler
Jeffrey L. Kessler is currently the Global Litigation Chair at the international law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf where he is also the co-chair of the Sports Litigation Practice Group and serves on the firm's Executive and Leadership Committees...
, the union’s attorney, said the league's proposal was really 50.2 percent and called the possibility of reaching 51 percent a "fraud" and an "illusion." The league also proposed restrictions for teams that pay the luxury tax, banning them from sign and trade
Sign and trade
In U.S. basketball, a sign-and-trade agreement is a type of contract allowed in the NBA collective bargaining agreement, wherein one team signs an unrestricted free agent to a contract and trades him to another team of the players choosing...
deals and limiting their use of the mid-level exception. They also proposed a "repeater tax" for teams that exceed the tax threshold thrice in a five-year span. Stern issued an ultimatum, giving the players until November 9 to accept the deal before it is lowered to 47 percent BRI and a flex salary cap.
On November 15, the NBA canceled all games through December 15.
Dissolving the union
The union rejected the offer on November 9 and asked for another bargaining session. The two sides met again as the deadline passed. After two days of negotiation, the owners put forth a revised final offer and said that they were done bargaining. If accepted by the players, Stern hoped to start a 72-game season in mid December. On November 14, the union rejected the last offer and dissolved the union. The NBPA was converted into a trade associationTrade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...
, enabling the players as individual employees to be represented by lawyers in a class action antitrust lawsuit against the league, calling the lockout an illegal group boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
. Attorney David Boies
David Boies
David Boies is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. He has been involved in various high-profile cases in the United States.-Early life and education:...
, who represented the NFL owners in their 2011 lockout, agreed to represent the players and join sides with Keesler, who also represented the players in the NFL lockout. On November 15, one group of NBA players (including Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Kiyan Anthony , nicknamed "Melo", is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association...
, Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Ray Billups is an American professional basketball point guard for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association . He has also played for Team USA. Billups won the NBA Finals MVP in 2004, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, and was given the...
, Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard is an American professional basketball small forward with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. In 2009 as a senior at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, he was named Mr...
, and Leon Powe
Leon Powe
Leon Powe, Jr. is an American professional basketball power forward who last played for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association . Drafted in 2006 by the Denver Nuggets, Powe grew up in Oakland, California and played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley...
) filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA in a California federal court, while another (including Anthony Tolliver
Anthony Tolliver
Anthony Tolliver an American professional basketball player who plays for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. He attended Creighton University in Nebraska.-High school and college career:...
, Ben Gordon, Caron Butler
Caron Butler
James Caron Butler, widely known as Caron Butler , is an American professional basketball player who most recently played at small forward for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.-Early life:...
and Derrick Williams
Derrick Williams (basketball)
Derrick LeRon Williams , nicknamed D-Will, is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was considered one of the top prospects for the 2011 NBA Draft and was selected as the second overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves...
) filed their own suit against the NBA in a Minnesota federal court. November 15 was also the day players were to receive their first paychecks if the season was played.
On November 21, the California lawsuit was dropped in order to merge with the Minnesota lawsuit. Boies hoped that the move would speed up the process since the courts will likely merge the suits as they are similar complaints seeking the same outcome. The league has until December 5 to respond in court.
Settlement
On November 23, the league and the players agreed to resume negotiating on November 25. On November 26, after 15 hours of talks, a tentative deal was reached. The players will receive 51.2 percent of BRI in 2011–12, with a 49-to-51 band in subsequent years. Teams are allowed a one-time exemption to waive one player and remove him from the team's salary cap. The player could be claimed off waivers by the highest bidder; the waiving team would be responsible for the remaining salary without it counting against their cap. The NBPA will reform as a union, then further negotiation can take place on secondary issues such as the age limit for the NBA draft and rules on players being sent to and recalled from the NBA D-League. Once the deal is officially ratified, the NBA will start the 2011–12 season.Racial comments
Bryant GumbelBryant Gumbel
Bryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...
on his HBO Real Sports show in October likened Stern's role in the lockout to a "modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys ... keeping the hired hands in their place." The NBA owners are predominantly white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
, while the players are mostly black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. ESPN noted that William C. Rhoden
William C. Rhoden
William C. Rhoden is a sports columnist for The New York Times. He has been in his current role since March 1983. Previously, he was a copy editor in the Sunday Week in Review section since October 1981 when he joined the newspaper....
in his book $40 Million Slaves had earlier dealt with the topic of players as "slaves" in spite of earning millions of dollars. Stern dismissed Gumbel's comments as "an occupational hazard" of being the NBA commissioner. In early November, Kessler criticized the owners' "take it or leave it" bargaining approach: "Instead of treating the players like partners, they’re treating them like plantation workers." Hall of Famer Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
called the comments "ridiculous" and defended Stern's record of promoting blacks. ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998....
said that the NBPA did not condone Kessler's statements, and they had intentionally avoided getting involved with Gumbel's earlier remarks. Kessler later apologized for his comments.
Impact
The cancellation of each month of the season cost the players around $350 million in lost pay. According to CNBCCNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, the average player lost $220,000 after the first missed paycheck on November 15. However, each players did receive $100,000 from the NBA to compensate for salaries falling below the 57 percent BRI level in 2010–11. As of October 25, an estimated 400 NBA jobs were lost due to layoffs and attrition since the lockout—around 200 in the league office and another 200 among the 30 teams. As the lockout dragged on toward the holiday season, many NBA arenas workers felt the impact. Many of them work part-time in order to supplement their income or to simply pay bills and they cannot get back the money they could have earned from the cancelled games.
The NBA needs three to four weeks to start the season once deal has been finalized for the 2011–12 season. The league will build a new schedule from scratch based on available arena dates. In October, the league allowed arenas in Los Angeles
Staples Center
Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles...
and Chicago
United Center
The United Center is an indoor sports arena located in Chicago. It is named after its corporate sponsor, United Airlines. The United Center is home to both the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League...
to reassign NBA dates for other events. The number of games between conferences could be affected as was the case in the 1999 lockout, when each team played only five or six interconference games in a 50-game schedule. Normally, each team plays teams in the other conference twice each.
Going overseas
The players union encouraged players to find work overseas, hoping owners would offer better deals if they saw players having more options. Josh ChildressJosh Childress
Joshua Malik Childress is an American professional basketball player with the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. He previously played with the pro club Olympiacos Piraeus in the Greek A1 League and the Euroleague, as well as the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA.-High school career:Childress attended Mayfair High...
, who played for Greek team Olympiacos before returning to the NBA in 2010, said he would not consider playing overseas during the lockout. He cited concerns with reliability of getting paid, differences in coaching styles, and lower standards of business travel compared to the NBA. International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced on July 29 that it would allow players under NBA contract to play overseas, provided that the contracts they signed have opt-out clauses that allow players to return once the work stoppage ends. Stern said the league would allow players to play overseas, but he warned that it could divide the union and possibly jeopardize players' contracts if they were seriously injured. Most leagues permitted the signing of locked-out NBA players with the option of opting out; the Chinese Basketball Association
Chinese Basketball Association
The Chinese Basketball Association , often abbreviated to the CBA, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in China.The league is commonly known as the CBA, and this acronym is often used even in Chinese...
, however, only allowed its clubs to sign foreign free agent
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
s who could play for at least the entire season.
| Player | Date signed | New team | NBA team | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
align=center| | Beşiktaş Milangaz (Turkey Turkish Basketball League The Turkish Basketball League is the top men’s professional basketball league in Turkey, which is also called Turkish Premier Basketball League . There is also a Turkish Second Basketball League consisting of 2 divisions .-History:The first basketball game played in Turkey was at the Robert... ) |
New Jersey Nets New Jersey Nets The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association... |
|
 |
align=center| | Türk Telekom Türk Telekom B.K. Türk Telekom Basketbol Kulübü is a professional basketball club of based in Ankara, Turkey. It is branch of the Türk Telekom GSK. Their home arena is the Ankara Arena with a capacity of 10,400 seats which was opened in April 2010... (Turkey Turkish Basketball League The Turkish Basketball League is the top men’s professional basketball league in Turkey, which is also called Turkish Premier Basketball League . There is also a Turkish Second Basketball League consisting of 2 divisions .-History:The first basketball game played in Turkey was at the Robert... ) |
Utah Jazz Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association... |
|
| |
align=center| | Xinjiang Flying Tigers Xinjiang Flying Tigers Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers or Xinjiang Flying Tigers or Xinjiang Guanghui are a basketball team in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang. Its corporate sponsor is Xinjiang Guanghui Group, Ltd... (China Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association , often abbreviated to the CBA, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in China.The league is commonly known as the CBA, and this acronym is often used even in Chinese... ) |
Denver Nuggets Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams... |
|
 |
align=center| | CSKA Moscow PBC CSKA Moscow PBC CSKA Moscow is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Moscow, Russia. The club is a member of the VTB United League. It is often referred to in the West as "Red Army" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army. CSKA has won two titles between 2006 and 2009 in Europe's... (Russia) |
Utah Jazz Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association... |
|
 |
align=center| | ASVEL Basket (France Ligue Nationale de Basketball The Ligue National de Basket is the top men's French professional basketball league. There are two divisions: French Pro A League and French Pro B League .-Pro A:... ) |
San Antonio Spurs San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association .... |
|
| For the list of all NBA players going overseas, see 2011–12 NBA season transactions#Going overseas. | ||||
More than 90 players have decided to sign with foreign teams during the lockout. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the migration of players overseas "one of the most overblown stories of the lockout" with a majority of those signing being "rookies, middling veterans and fringe players." Deron Williams
Deron Williams
Deron Michael Williams , nicknamed D-Will, is an American basketball player currently with the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association . Williams has also played for the Utah Jazz of the NBA and Beşiktaş of the Turkish Basketball League...
is the only 2011 All-Star
2011 NBA All-Star Game
The 2011 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game that was played on February 20, 2011 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, home of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers. This game was the 60th edition of the National Basketball Association All-Star Game and was...
going overseas, signing a one-year contract for $5 million to play for Beşiktaş of the Turkish Basketball League
Turkish Basketball League
The Turkish Basketball League is the top men’s professional basketball league in Turkey, which is also called Turkish Premier Basketball League . There is also a Turkish Second Basketball League consisting of 2 divisions .-History:The first basketball game played in Turkey was at the Robert...
. Former first overall draft pick Kenyon Martin
Kenyon Martin
Kenyon Lee Martin is an American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "K-Mart", he plays for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China. He was selected first overall in the 2000 NBA Draft, and has played in the NBA for the New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets...
, a free agent, signed a one-year contract with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers
Xinjiang Flying Tigers
Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers or Xinjiang Flying Tigers or Xinjiang Guanghui are a basketball team in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang. Its corporate sponsor is Xinjiang Guanghui Group, Ltd...
of the Chinese Basketball Association that will make him the highest paid player in the league's history at $500,000 a month. However, he would not be able to return to the NBA until the Chinese season ends in March. Unlike players who signed more lucrative contracts overseas, three-time NBA champion Tony Parker
Tony Parker
William Anthony "Tony" Parker is a French professional basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA....
opted to play for the minimum wage of $2,000 per month with ASVEL Basket, the French team he partly owns. Parker joined several foreign players, such as Leandro Barbosa
Leandro Barbosa
Leandro Mateus Barbosa is a Brazilian professional basketball player, who plays at the guard position with Flamengo Basketball in Brazil. He is also under contract with the National Basketball Association's Toronto Raptors, and is expected to return to that team once the 2011 NBA lockout ends...
, Boris Diaw
Boris Diaw
Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod, better known as Boris Diaw , is a French professional basketball player for JSA Bordeaux in France. He has also played in the National Basketball Association for the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, and Charlotte Bobcats...
, Rudy Fernández
Rudy Fernández (basketball)
Rodolfo "Rudy" Fernández y Farrés is a Spanish professional basketball player. He is a 6'6" tall shooting guard/small forward who is currently signed to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, though he will play for Real Madrid until the current NBA lockout ends...
, Andrei Kirilenko
Andrei Kirilenko
Andrei Gennadyevich Kirilenko is a Russian-American professional basketball player who plays at the small forward position for the CSKA Moscow in the Russian Professional Basketball League. He also plays for the Russia national basketball team...
and Mehmet Okur
Mehmet Okur
Mehmet Murat Okur is a Turkish professional basketball player who currently plays for Türk Telekom B.K.. He is also under contract with the Utah Jazz of the NBA, and can return to that team when the 2011 NBA lockout ends...
, who opted to play in their home countries until the lockout ends.
An NBA player playing in Europe could earn as little as $50,000–$75,000 per month, while the average NBA annual salary was $5.8 million with the minimum around $500,000. The large contracts signed by Williams and Martin are extreme exceptions. In October after the cancellation of regular season games, it was not anticipated that many additional NBA players would be signed overseas; leagues had started playing, their rosters were full, and new players could disrupt the teams.
Other alternatives
Many players opted to stay in the United States instead. Americans especially would have found it hard to leave and change their lifestyle. Some played in local pick-up games, while others played in the more organized exhibition tournaments such as the Drew League in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the Melo League located in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
or the Goodman League in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
An exhibition game between the two leagues was played on August 20, 2011, with the Goodman League defeating the Drew League, 135–134. Drew commissioner Dino Smiley said such pro–am
Pro–am
Pro–am , short for but rarely written out as professional–amateur, is a concept that describes a blurring of the distinction between professional and amateur competition within a sport...
games during the NBA off-season were not new, but "the lockout has taken these games to a new level". A tournament of NBA-only players was held in September in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, featuring eight teams with seven to eight players each. Named the Impact Basketball Competitive Training Series, the league was dubbed by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as the "Lockout League".
Training camp was not expected to be long if there ended up being a season. Some players organized workouts for their teams to build team chemistry. The NBPA announced it was setting up workout centers in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston and possibly Miami for players to workout at the union's expense.
The continuing lockout in October and the canceled preseason allowed Renaldo Balkman
Renaldo Balkman
Renaldo Balkman is an American professional basketball player, formerly of the University of South Carolina. He currently plays for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association . He has represented the Puerto Rico national team in international competition...
, José Juan Barea
Jose Juan Barea
José Juan "J.J." Barea Mora is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player. He most recently played as a point guard for the National Basketball Association's 2011 champion Dallas Mavericks. Barea has played in the NBA, NBA Development League, NCAA and the BSN with Indios de Mayagüez and the...
and Carlos Arroyo
Carlos Arroyo
Carlos Alberto Arroyo Bermúdez is a Puerto Rican professional basketball point guard who last played for the Boston Celtics. Arroyo is the fifth player from Puerto Rico to play in the NBA...
to play for Puerto Rico in the Pan American Games that month. Puerto Rico won the gold medal.
Olympics
Although the 2012 Olympic men's basketball tournamentBasketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- External links :**...
was then more than a year away, qualifying tournaments in all five of FIBA's continental zones were to be held in the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2011 (the traditional basketball offseason throughout the world). The lockout resulted in the suspension of an agreement between the NBA and FIBA by which the NBA would take on most of the costs for insuring the value of its players' contracts in the event they were injured during international competition. As a result, national federations that wish to have NBA players on their squads must now provide full coverage instead of supplemental insurance.
These costs are surprisingly high—one agent
Sports agent
A sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...
who represents an unnamed NBA player set to earn $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
10 million in the 2010–11 season said the player had received a $400,000 quote to insure his contract for his national team's FIBA qualifier. The Spanish Basketball Federation
Spanish Basketball Federation
The Spanish Basketball Federation is the national governing body of basketball in Spain....
said that insuring all the NBA players on its national team
Spain national basketball team
The Spanish national basketball team is the basketball team representing Spain in international competitions, organized and run by the Spanish Basketball Federation...
for EuroBasket 2011
Eurobasket 2011
EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time Eurobasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 championship. FIBA Europe asserted that Lithuania managed to...
, which doubles as the European
FIBA Europe
FIBA Europe is a zone within the International Basketball Federation which includes all 49 national European basketball federations.-Division A:-Division B: -Division C:...
Olympic qualifiers, could cost as much as $5.67 million. Basketball Australia
Basketball Australia
Basketball Australia is the governing and controlling body of basketball in Australia, responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels.Formed in 1939 the organisation was constituted in 1946...
announced that Andrew Bogut
Andrew Bogut
Andrew Michael Bogut is an Australian professional basketball player. He plays for the Milwaukee Bucks of the United States' National Basketball Association....
would not be available for the 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship
2011 FIBA Oceania Championship
The 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men was the 20th edition of the tournament. The tournament featured a three-game series between Australia and New Zealand. Game one was held in Melbourne followed by the second game in Brisbane and game three in Sydney, Australia.-Results:-External links:*...
; his agent indicated that the final deal-breaker was when insurers stated that they would not insure his remaining $39 million in NBA salary unless pre-existing elbow, wrist, and back injuries were excluded from the policy.
The French
Fédération Française de Basket-Ball
The Fédération Française de Basket-Ball is the governing body of basketball in France.It was founded in 1932 ....
, Russian and Argentine
Argentine Basketball Federation
The Argentine Basketball Federation is the governing body of basketball in Argentina. It is also one of the founding members of the International Basketball Federation , founded in 1932....
federations were able to insure their NBA players, and several other federations were also expected to be able to do so. Over 30 NBA players participated in EuroBasket 2011
Eurobasket 2011
EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time Eurobasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 championship. FIBA Europe asserted that Lithuania managed to...
, while Ben Gordon and Marcin Gortat
Marcin Gortat
Marcin Gortat, pronounced "MAHR-cheen GOR-taht" , also known as the Polish Hammer, is a Polish professional basketball player who plays the center position for the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. The 6'11", 240 pound power forward/center is the son of boxer Janusz Gortat...
opted out due to insurance concerns.
Other sports
A couple of weeks before the NBA season was originally scheduled to start, ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
and Bloomberg Businessweek speculated on the prospect of increased interest in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL) among NBA fans. The NHL had experienced steady growth since the 2005–06 season, and they again opened the 2011–12 season
2011–12 NHL season
The 2011–12 NHL season is the 95th season of operation of the National Hockey League . It is the fifth consecutive season that opens in Europe with NHL Premiere games. As with the previous season, three events are scheduled: two games will be held in Stockholm, Sweden; one game in Helsinki,...
in early October to record crowds. Businessweek wrote, "Just maybe, the NBA’s sketchy situation is already having a positive effect on the NHL." However several NHL teams (nearly half of which do not have an NBA team in their market) had no plans to market directly to NBA fans during the lockout.
The University of Texas at San Antonio
UTSA Roadrunners football
UTSA Roadrunners Football is an American football program that represents the University of Texas at San Antonio. The team is coached by former Miami Hurricanes head coach, Larry Coker. UTSA began practicing in August 2010, and began competing as an NCAA Division I FCS independent on September...
(UTSA), in its inaugural college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
season
2011 UTSA Roadrunners football team
The 2011 UTSA Roadrunners football team represented the University of Texas at San Antonio in the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season. It was the first year of play for UTSA. The team was coached by first-year head football coach Larry Coker. The team played its home games at the Alamodome and...
, drew 40,000 fans to its games in September. The San Antonio Business Journal speculated on UTSA's opportunities to grow its fan base with the canceled NBA games in San Antonio.
Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
speculated that NCAA college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
would have higher television ratings and attendance during the lockout. However, Sporting News noted that "there was no obvious boost in popularity in the college game" during the previous lockout
1998–99 NBA lockout
The 1998–99 NBA lockout was the third lockout in the history of the National Basketball Association . It lasted from July 1, 1998 to January 20, 1999, and forced the 1998–99 season to be shortened to 50 games per team and that season's All-Star Game to be canceled...
when college basketball attendance increased by an average of 21 people per game.
NBA cities
Mayors from 14 NBA cities wrote an open letter to NBA commissioner David SternDavid Stern
David Joel Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien...
and NBPA chief Billy Hunter
Billy Hunter
George William "Billy" Hunter is the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association , the players' union of the National Basketball Association . He is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins...
, requesting that they end the lockout based on "the perspective [of city] residents and the negative impact a canceled season might have on them, our cities, and our local economies." TIME
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
noted that arena workers would be affected by the cancellation of games. However, separate studies by University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College, founded in 1857, is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. The college has 1,500 students representing 47 states and 78 countries....
found no historic significant impact to the economies of cities with sports franchises affected by work stoppages. Explanations included consumer shifting of spending on sporting events to other forms of entertainment, reduced local government spending on crowd and traffic control, and higher productivity by the general workforce without the distraction of games.
Other businesses
It is estimated that a complete lockout would have cost an upwards of $1 billion in lost television advertisement revenue. The lockout would have dealt a sizable blow to the current licensed product market which is estimated at $2.7 billion, and would have created a big loss in television ratings for networks that cover NBA games such as TNT and ESPN.Rescheduled season
Pending ratification of the tentative settlement reached on November 26, the NBA plans to play two preseason games and a 66-game regular season schedule per team. Teams were allowed to contact players' agents on November 30. Players could begin voluntary working out at team facilities with trainers on December 1, but coaches and general managers will not be allowed to observe the workouts nor can any drills be conducted. Training camps and free agency are scheduled to start on December 9 with the regular season beginning on Christmas Day.External links
- NBA Lockout at ESPN.com
- Labor Central: Collective Bargaining News & Information at NBA.com