NBA Lockout: How Much Did Ego Cost the NBA Players?

The NBA lockout has been an arduous ordeal for any basketball purist. The same qualities that we tend to cheer on the hardwood—determination, doggedness, resolve—seem to have come back to bite us as the players and the owners fight over billions. 

Many describe the conflict between the two parties as "billionaires versus millionaire," which definitely has a ring of truth to it. The divide, however, is more "billionaires versus superstars." 

While even die-hard fans will have trouble identifying some of the faces who actually own these franchises, we all know the players we see regularly making spectacular plays for our favorite teams. The NBA, more than any other American sport, is in the star-making business.  With those big stars comes big egos.

Perhaps those egos may have hurt the players in this intense collective bargaining period.

There is no doubt that these egos have been ever-present throughout these 132 days, but they were just as pronounced in the time leading up to this predicament.

We will not revisit "The Decision," "Melo Drama" or the situation in Utah that ended with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams in different locations. 

More than ever, players have been able to exert the power of popularity and manipulate the system to grab much more control over the league than ever before.

With all the recent happenings, the sentiment on the players side seemed to be that they had wrestled enough power to stand their ground in the negotiations this summer. The feeling was certainly clear during the subsequent proceedings. 

There were talk of the players not actually needing the NBA. In an article by ESPN's Ian Begley, New York Knicks forward discussed the possibility of starting a player's only league to rival the NBA while the owners kept the locks on the doors. 

Heat star Dwyane Wade claimed even last year that NBA superstars are, in fact, underpaid.

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"In terms of driving revenue, if the NBA had no cap, the compensation would be totally different," Wade said. "Like baseball, where they have no cap, you see the players that they feel fill arenas, that people come out to see, A-Rod, those kind of guys, look at how much money they make on their deals.

"You’ve got guys—starting with Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe and LeBron—all players that individually people wanted to come to see. And wanted to just have a glimpse, just one glimpse, to be able to say that I’ve seen that person play. For what they’ve done for the game, what they’ve done for organizations, I don’t think you can really put a dollar amount on it."

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Stars pointing out how important stars are. 

Then there was the animosity of Kevin Garnett, who reportedly walked into a meeting with his signature combative stare and unpleasant disposition. Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski recalled the situation.

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The owners knew it wouldn’t go well when Garnett started glowering across the table, sources said, like the league lawyers, owners and officials were opponents at the center jump. He was defiant, determined and downright ornery. He was K.G. Everyone knew Hunter had to cede to the wishes of the stars, and the stars demanded that the players stop making concessions to the owners.

There are numerous other accounts, from last season's MVP guard Derrick Rose questioning the need for a salary cap period to Nick Young initiating a boycott of Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan's retail line, the players have stood tall the entire way and still claim to stand united against the establishment.

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Has this defiance, however, caused the players to lose focus? What really seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle was that the players had lost before this lockout started.

The owners walked into this negotiation period claiming a loss of over $300 million league-wide per season. Accurate or not, we will never truly know.  What we did know was that the model needed some changes to improve the viability of all NBA franchises. 

The players knew they would have to take a significant loss in BRI, especially after their percent of revenue actually increased as result of the previous agreement.

The actual number has fluctuated back and forth, as most negotiations of this nature do. The players, however, should have maintained their focus on the system issues and not as much on the revenue.

Consider the real financial advantage playing in the NBA: the large middle class. In all major sports, the stars get big money, but no other sport have the expansive middle class the NBA has.  

Cap exceptions, sign and trade moves and "Bird rights" have allowed agents to manipulate and circumvent the salary cap so that middling players have been able to make well over their own court production would probably warrant. Those rules have enabled the NBA players to pull down the highest average salary at more than $5 million per season.

It seems, however, that the Player's Union became so enamored with not giving in to the possibility of a 50/50 split that they missed the boat. Both parties walked away from the negotiating table three weeks ago with no deal, ending the possibility of a full 82 games season and costing the players millions in salary.

This is not to say that the owners are not as egotistical as the players. In fact, there is a huge revenge factor in these proceedings and the players are certainly not to blame for the losses in these small markets. Owners are looking for a bailout from the players and would not relent until they were positive they would come out on top. 

The reality was that there was no way the players were going to win this war. No stares or threats or boycotts were going to turn the tables. This was never really a bargaining session.  This was damage control and it seems like everyone knew that but the Union leaders.

In hindsight, the players walked away from essentially the same BAI split they are said to be considering at this moment. So why not work in a possible 50/50 mindset in October? The superstars were in the room, but it is the "rank and file" that are most affected and they wanted to play.  aVale McGee let the cat out of the bag weeks ago.

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JaVale McGee only acknowledged the inevitable Friday when the Washington Wizards center said a few NBA players are "ready to fold" in their contentious labor negotiations with the league.

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Probably not the guy you want talking, but did you really need to hear it or did we already know that the vast majority would have taken a 50/50 split even prior to preseason?

It appears that this lockout is finally winding down. Owner and players are currently in negotiations well after David Stern's ultimatum deadline of 5 pm Nov. 9, which is a good sign for basketball fans. 

The players have agreed to a possible 50/50 split with some tweaks to the system. Now, however, the players appear to be crawling back looking for crumbs as opposed to actually negotiating a deal weeks ago. They are now at the mercy of the owners, who seem more than willing to crush the Union more than ever.

The question is, with a little less machismo and a little more understanding of the situation, couldn't we have gotten this done much sooner?