NBA Lockout: A Look at the Situation from a Fan's Perspective

The NBA Lockout has many avid basketball fans nervous about whether or not there will be a 2011-12 season. Already, the first two weeks of the regular season have been canceled. The NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association(NBPA) are both holding their ground in order to get what they want. So what exactly is going with this lockout?

The main issue is that the owners and NBPA can't come to an agreement on how to split up the amount of revenue the league makes. The owners want to instill a hard cap, while the the Player's Association wants to maintain the current structure. A hard cap will reduce the amount of money a team will have to spend, in effect attempting to create a balance of power between teams in the league.

Also, the NBA claims that they are losing money, so they want to reduce player salaries by 40 percent. With all this being said, I am not going to bore you with a lot of numbers, but instead look at the current lockout from a fan's perspective.

The NBA season was shortened to 50 games during the 1998-99 lockout and that could be a possibility for this season. However I would rather not see a shortened season at all. As a fan, I want to see basketball in it's entirety. There is no reason games should be missed at all.

Last year was a great year to be a fan of the game of basketball. Last season saw some of the superstars of the league join to make mega squads. Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwayne Wade in Miami and Carmelo Anthony went to the New York Knicks with Amare Stoudemire. We also cannot forget about the original team that started it all with the big three of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in Boston.

We witnessed the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA championship, someone different than who we are accustomed to seeing host the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Casual and hardcore basketball fans alike are looking forward to the upcoming season, assuming there is one.

Fans are interested in seeing what happens with these mega squads and if any more will follow. We want to see the continued growth of the league MVP Derrick Rose and the other young stars of the league. What will Dwight Howard decide to do this season with this being the last year of his contract with the Orlando Magic? These are all intriguing storylines that we want to see. However, that all hinges on if there will be a 2011-12 season.

With an increase in TV ratings and league revenue during the last season, interest in the NBA is at a high that has not been seen in some time. The NBA risks maintaining that interest if and when a new labor deal is done. While some fans will amiably go back to watching games whenever the season does start, there will be those that decide to holdout and not keep a keen interest in the league. More and more fans will turn back the longer the lockout goes.

After last season, the NBA had so much momentum that would have carried over into the upcoming season. Some of that momentum has already been lost with the cancellation of the first two weeks and momentum will continue to be lost with every week that passes by without a deal.

We can't also forget the many lives the lockout is affecting. Put aside that the players are not getting paid right now, I think they have enough money to get them through this. This affects those that work at the arenas and make an income based on the NBA season. What will they do during this the lockout?

The economy is hard as it is and now these employees at the arenas have to figure out how they will earn a living while the owners and players continue to argue back and forth.

I think it's safe to say that fans of the game of basketball want to see an end to this lockout. Get a deal done so we can get back to enjoying the game because at the end of the day, the fans and employees at the arenas come up empty as a result. Let's stop the greed and let's get back to playing basketball.