NBA Lockout: Positive Rumor Reason to Celebrate Amidst Horrific Negotiations

Finally, there is a glimmer of hope in this dark and gloomy offseason for the NBA.

Lately all of the NBA lockout headlines have been surrounding how the preseason has been cancelled and the threat of losing regular season games is on the horizon.

Finally there is a bit of good news and it comes in the form of this tweet from Sporting News reporter Sean Deveney:

Now this is progress.

The owners are finally willing to budge and the 51-49 BRI (basketball related income) is the biggest sign of a compromise to date.

CBS Sports’ NBA Insider Ken Berg talks about how close the two sides really are at this point:

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So while Hunter and Stern remained publicly entrenched in the economic positions of their most recent formal proposals—with the players asking for 53 percent and the league offering effectively 47—the reality is this: the gap has closed to 2 percentage points of BRI, the difference between the midpoint of the two offers, or stated differently, the value of one Gilbert Arenas.

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It’s an uncontested layup at this point and the amount of money they will lose if games are flushed down the drain is going to reach this two percent difference very quickly. The estimate is the league is already going to lose $200M by canceling the preseason.

The league is coming off one of their best seasons in years and both sides need to realize that a lockout would kill the momentum and the goodwill fans feel towards the league.

The big name players on both sides need to take a step back and realize that the “Gilbert Arenas difference” at this point is chump change and they need to end this PR war once and for all.

With the ability for both sides to opt out of this deal in six years…it’s not like this is the ridiculous 10-year deal the NFL got.

Both sides need to stop being stubborn and finish off this compromise.

It’s as easy as making a free throw at this point.