NBA Lockout Labor Negotiations in Critical Stage as Threat of Missed Games Loom

The negotiations between NBA players and owners have now reached an uncomfortable stage.

Officially 95 days into the work stoppage, the two sides will meet once again on Tuesday, and that meeting will likely determine whether the regular season can start on time and a full 82-game schedule will be played.

One day to bridge an enormous gap between two sides.

A single negotiating session to attempt to tie every loose end up and create a deal that successfully pacifies both sides.

After the last two meetings lasted a combined 12 hours and yielded only minimal progress, it's extremely difficult to have any sort of optimism heading into Tuesday's session.

With the two sides still "miles apart" and the regular season slated to begin in less than one month's time, fans are rightfully frustrated with the snail-like pace of discussions.

The NBA is coming off its best ratings since Michael Jordan retired, and despite the draft possessing one of the weaker talent pool's in recent memory, it was the most watched selection process since 1996.

Good timing for a work stoppage.

This wasn't out of the blue. This was something that both sides were anticipating, both knew was coming, and frankly, was inevitable given the current stance of each side and the inability to find a common ground.

So now, here we are. Two years later, several negotiating sessions later, and neither side has yielded in the pursuit of what each considers a fair deal.

Unfortunately, it's clear that the players and owners both have very different perceptions of the word fair.

The owners continue to argue that the system is broken and that player salaries have gotten out of control. Many cite the outlandish contracts that players like Rashard Lewis and Gilbert Arenas have received in recent memory, but is it their fault that they signed a contract that was offered?

Lewis received six years and approximately $110 million as part of a sign-and-trade that landed him with the Orlando Magic, a move that was widely lauded at the time as a legitimate way to make the team championship contenders with a frontcourt tandem of Lewis and Dwight Howard.

Arenas, who re-signed with Washington for six seasons and $111 million, actually took less money than the Wizards were initially offering in a effort to improve the long-term financial flexibility of the team.

While both of those contracts are absolutely ludicrous in retrospect, I continue to say the same thing that I've stuck by since the lockout became official.

It takes an employer to offer the employee the terms and conditions of a deal before the employee can sign and agree to that deal.

Translation: Ownership is signing off on these deals.

It's not just about the big contracts with mega bucks, though.

It's about much more than that.

When Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports sat down with Dwyane Wade no less than a week ago, the Miami Heat superstar re-affirmed the correct notion that the most prominent NBA stars disproportionately drive the league's revenue and are forced to subsidize the overpaid role players that do nothing but sit on the bench.

In other words, the league's stars don't get paid enough, and the marginal talent within the NBA is severely overpaid.

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“In terms of driving revenue, if the NBA had no cap, the compensation would be totally different,” Wade said. “Like baseball, where they have no cap, you see the players that they feel fill arenas, that people come out to see, A-Rod, those kind of guys, look at how much money they make on their deals."

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He's right.

While most people will misinterpret what he's said and construe his comments into "we don't get paid enough," Wade couldn't have been more on point with what he told Wojnarowski.

During the 1998-99 lockout, owners were complaining about a system that they couldn't operate under. Players were getting paid too much, and owners had to structure a Collective Bargaining Agreement that would allow for the prevention of outlandish contracts.

Fast forward to 2011, and we're in an eerily similar position.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports has adequately set the tone for what's at stake during Tuesday's discussions.

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Kaboom. Tuesday could be the day when the struggle for economic survival in basketball blows sky high.

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That's not hyperbole, folks.

Berger sets the stage perfectly for the Tuesday session.

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If I can see the deal—a 52-48 split of revenues in favor of the players, modest but meaningful system changes that would rein in out-of-control spending and raises in the future, and massive revenue sharing enhancements to help low-revenue teams compete—then surely David Stern, Adam Silver, Billy Hunter and Fisher can see it.

Ah, but while those will be the people negotiating the deal, they will not be the people approving it or rejecting it. Those would be the owners and the players, who are advised and influenced by their agents.

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The agents—the group of powerful, influential people who have asserted themselves as the X factor in this process.

The same group of people who wrote a letter to their clients urging them not to accept any further reductions in a potential deal, and the same group that are pushing to hit the button to blow this entire thing up by decertifying the union.

Great.

Now Tuesday has arrived, and although both sides have enormous consequences at stake, there has been no indication that a deal is imminent.

I'd like to be optimistic, but it's challenging considering how little the discussions have yielded to this point.

There's pressure on both sides to reach a deal.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that they're close to agreeing on anything.

After Monday's five-hour session, here's what Stern offered for commentary:

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We’re apart on the split,” he said, “but we know that the answer lies between where they were and where we are. And without defining ours, or defining theirs, I think if there’s a will, we’ll be able to deal with both the split and with the system issues.”

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Cryptic, stoic and perfectly fit for David Stern.

This is the man with the future of the league in his hands.

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For once, be the commissioner of the NBA, not just the owners.

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Well said.