NBA Lockout: 5 Owners Holding the NBA, Players and Season from Starting

The NBA lockout continues to drag forward after a three-day mediation session failed to bring the two sides closer together toward an agreement.

Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld spoke to an NBPA source who was inside the negotiating room, and that source had no trouble identifying the key owners holding up an agreement between the parties.

Peter Holt, Wyc Grousbeck, Paul Allen, Robert Sarver and Dan Gilbert were all described as "hardliners," and that's not surprising considering the latter two had previously opposed a potential CBA deal earlier in the negotiating process.

Let's take a closer look at all of them.

Peter Holt, San Antonio

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Holt is chairman, CEO and owner of Spurs Sports & Entertainment.

Upon originally purchasing the team in the early 1990s, Holt identified his desire to keep the team in San Antonio and to help the community.

Holt was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 2004, and rarely does a businessman pursue and operate an investment without the opportunity to generate revenue.

No, he's not a billionaire owner, but he's the one who provided the ultimatum of a 50-50 BRI split as a "take it or leave it" scenario that gave the players no option after three days of federal mediation.

Paul Allen, Portland

I'm not even sure where to start with Mr. Allen, but let's give this one a whirl.

He's worth upwards of $13 billion, bought the team in 1988 (10 years prior to the lockout before this one), and made all of his money with Microsoft, the company he co-founded with Bill Gates.

His pockets must really be hurting.

He ranked No. 23 on the annual list produced by Forbes.com on the 400 wealthiest Americans, and he recently decided to sell one of his private islands with a rather lucrative price tag attached.

He owns multiple yachts, and he's "worth twice as much money as the next two wealthiest NBA owners combined."

Wyc Grousbeck, Boston

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Grousbeck spent seven years as a partner at Highland Capital Partners (venture capital form) before eventually forming a group that purchased the Celtics for $360 million.

He is the Chair of the NBA Planning Committee, and is a member of the league's Audit and Compensation Committee as well as Advisory/Finance Committee.

Well, that's interesting to say the very least.

Before his work with the Celtics, he served in a role co-managing $1.8 billion in venture capital funds, so manipulating numbers to tell a story on paper likely isn't something exterior of his capabilities.

Robert Sarver, Phoenix

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The majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, Sarver bought the franchise in 2004, so this is his first experience with a work stoppage.

Sarver has received scathing criticism long before this scenario played itself out, as he has been rather cheap in his operation of the franchise, and many blame him for wasting the best years of Steve Nash's career because he refused to invest in a roster that could've competed for a title.

Here are some of the facts since Sarver took over as team owner (from Julie Fie, VP of Basketball Communications):

The Phoenix Suns have won the third most games in the NBA since Robert Sarver purchased the team and signed Steve Nash as a first free agent in 2004-2005 (372-202 (.648). That included three Western Conference Finals trips and two 60 win seasons.  The Suns payroll has been in the top 10 in four of the last five years.

All of that is true. Here are some other things that are also true:

Sarver signed off on the acquisition and subsequent signing of Josh Childress for five years and $34 million.

The franchise also decided to sign and trade Joe Johnson to Atlanta for two future first-round draft picks and Boris Diaw.

Those two first round picks? One was sold to Boston (Rajon Rondo) to save money, and the other found himself at the end of the team's bench by the end of last season (Robin Lopez).

A popular nominee for the worst owner in sports, Sarver has been hostile throughout the process, and it's not a surprise his name continues to re-surface as someone who may be holding up a deal.

Dan Gilbert, Cleveland

The one and only Dan Gilbert.

After making headlines for saying that NBA "bloggissists" make stuff up and get people to read into their fiction, he's continued to look like one of the biggest villains emerging from the owners' side throughout this entire ordeal.

When LeBron James announced he was joining Miami, Gilbert made a mockery of himself for releasing a letter in Comic Sans font, strongly criticizing his former franchise face, who he continues to make money off of by selling his Fathead.

This is the same man who still serves as the chairman of Quicken Loans Inc.

"Subprime Dan" has never seemed more fitting.