NBA Lockout: Players Ready to Decertify If Needed and Owners Should Be Wary

The owners have been content to enjoy the lap of luxury and enormous leverage. If you thought the players have no power in ongoing negotiations, you would be sorely mistaken. 

The owners have told anyone who will listen that they have been the ones making the concessions. They obviously think the fans are complete idiots who wouldn't realize that a great deal of their concessions are not concessions at all. 

Make no mistake, the players are losing a great deal of money and power that they enjoyed under the last CBA. I have no problem with that. They still want a modicum of that luxury going forward, and I have no problem without that either. 

What pains me is how the players have allowed themselves to get beat up in the court of public opinion as well as in the board rooms where they meet with owners. 

Enough, apparently, is enough. CBS Sports reports the two sides will again come together in Saturday for what seems to be a fool's errand. The players have drawn a line in the sand at 52 percent of BRI. Meanwhile, the owners have drawn a line in concrete on a 50-50 split that is much closer to 47 percent. 

The report states that the players are as unified as ever. What they have issues with is the way they have been represented by the union. 

A conference call with 50 players and an anit-trust attorney took place on Thursday. The players are fed up with all the concessions and have the precise out if the union agrees to anything less than 52 percent. That is something the players want to be made very public. 

The report states: 

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If union negotiators dropped below that percentage, and/or the remaining system issues went the league’s way, it would be cause for a rogue decertification vote by players frustrated with the enormous concessions the union already has made...

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It would indeed be beyond stubborn for owners to not at the very least consider that decertification is a real possibility. They can be as aloof as they want to be, but the players still have one card to play, and it's a big one. 

Decertification would more then likely kill the season, but it's the only way to put the owners on their heels as they continue to take more and more money off the table. 

This move would open up the pocket books of everyone in the room. The massive losses that are being claimed would be seen once and for all. Being the cynic, the flush bank account with billions in reserve are far more likely. 

The NBA lockout heads back to the negotiating table this Saturday. This should be the tipping point to peace or ruin.