NBA Lockout: Is This Weekend Make-or-Break Time To Resolve the Dispute?

Since the NBA lockout began on July 1st, 2011, the ticking clock started to run towards November 1st, the scheduled opening night of the season. While the NFL lockout had been resolved with relatively few problems, the significantly worse NBA economic state made experts across the nation pessimistic that a full season would be saved.

Now, as David Stern has threatened to cancel the season if things do not go well this weekend, the issue has come to a head. Can Billy Hunter and David Stern reach a deal and save the season this weekend or will things come crashing down?

With the growing fears that this weekend is the owners and union's last chance to compromise before games are lost, Stern has called more than 15 owners and a number of the league's star players into attendance for these extremely important meetings.

As it currently stands, it appears as though the owners have the players in a no-leverage situation. As much as the players can threaten to bolt to Europe if they don't get a fair deal, the money is next to nothing compared to their NBA salaries and the pay isn't as consistent as it is in the states.

While the players want to avoid rollbacks on their current deals, they will be losing money by not playing. So in essence, they are just rolling back their salaries by failing to reach a deal. At this point, the players just need to be happy if they get a reasonable deal because the owners hold all the cards in this situation. 

To quote Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: 

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"Hunter has no leverage, and no way out. This isn’t about getting the players a great deal, it’s about getting out of this without the agents overthrowing him. The union keeps insisting its players will go the distance, sit out the season, and that’s not happening. It sounds noble and strong, and there are players with the stomach to do it. Yet, there aren’t enough of them. What’s more, there’s the sobering understanding that the bad deal being offered now becomes worse in December."

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If the players do not agree to a deal this weekend, they must realize that they are not going to get a better bargain by waiting another month. In the NHL lockout which lasted over 10 months, the players sat out an entire season and missed a full year of paychecks yet failed to get a better deal than the one offered to them at the start of the lockout. 

While the owners have the leverage, they still have a lot to lose if the two sides do not come close to an agreement this weekend. With heavy pressure from powerful agents across the league, the Players' Association may decertify and start messy, drawn-out litigation in order to force the owners' hands. If these agents have their way, the season will almost certainly be lost as the resolution of these issues will take many months. 

Though the sides seem to be moving closer, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. The owners' latest offer for the players' share of BRI (basketball related income) remains a few percentage points apart, and that is the most important issue that needs to be settled. While some people mention the age limit and other issues as potential holdups to the deal, once the money is settled, nothing will stop an agreement from being reached.