National Basketball Players Association union president Derek Fisher, of the Los Angles Lakers, listens as NBPA executive director Billy Hunter, right, speaks during a news conference, Thursday, June 23, 2011, with NBA players standing behind them in New York. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement expires June 30 and the sides remain far apart. Fisher said players won't accept a bad deal to avoid a work stoppage. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) — AP
NEW YORK — NBA players have declined to present a new economic proposal to owners, less than a week before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
Dressed in matching T-shirts urging solidarity, about 40 players attended Friday's negotiating session, the final one before owners could vote on whether to lock them out if no deal has been reached.
Owners had hoped for another proposal from the union, but players felt they had gone far enough after they offered a $500 million reduction in salaries over five years on Tuesday, a move that Commissioner David Stern termed "modest."
The owners will meet Tuesday in Dallas. The sides could then meet at least one more time before the CBA expires on June 30.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NEW YORK (AP) - Dressed in matching T-shirts urging solidarity, NBA players are meeting with owners with less than a week left before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
The union's executive committee was joined by a large contingent of players in New York for player representative meetings who decided to attend Friday's negotiating session.
Executive director Billy Hunter said he was told late Thursday night that the players had decided to attend. He said the message of their attendance in shirts reading "STAND" was "just solidarity, that we have to stand together, we have to be unified and be prepared to address whatever the circumstance is, but address it together."
The CBA expires June 30 and the sides remain far apart. Both made new proposals in a meeting Tuesday, but Commissioner David Stern considered the union's economic move to be "modest" and players believe owners haven't budged on their insistence for a hard salary cap.
And with both indicating they may have reached the limit for what they would concede, there was a sense that Friday's session could be unproductive.
Owners are meeting Tuesday in Dallas, where they could vote to lock out the players it a deal hasn't been reached by the deadline. But Hunter feels negotiations can continue past that point.
"The 30th, it can be just another date. They're the ones who determine whether or not it should carry more significance than it really should," he said. "What happens on the 30th is that the collective bargaining agreement expires. It doesn't mean that it has to be the end of negotiations, it doesn't mean that it has to be a lockout. The ball is in their court and they will decide how to treat it."
---
Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney .
The Associated Press
No comments:
Post a Comment