NBA Lockout: Stern Offers 72-Game Schedule, Union to Present Proposal to Players

There are going to be a lot of doom-and-gloom reports regarding the NBA lockout after the players and owners emerged Thursday without a deal.

Don't buy it.

Commissioner David Stern stated that the league's proposal is for a 72-game schedule beginning on December 15, with the start of the postseason and championship round both being pushed back one week under the new timetable.

In addition to Stern dangling the giant carrot of 72 games in front of the rank-and-file players desperate to play the game they love, his decision for a start date is awfully interesting and may not be as arbitrary as some would believe.

We've heard from the commissioner on multiple occasions that the league would need 30 days to get up and running from whenever a deal is agreed upon, and that makes Stern's proposal for December 15 make a lot of sense.

Here's the math: the league's proposal came on the evening prior to November 11. The NBPA is expected to present that proposal early next week to the player representatives. That would mean that if there is an agreement, it would likely come between November 14-18.

In other words, roughly 30 days prior to when Stern's proposal for when the season's start date would be.

Stern made no secret that the league was finished negotiating, and if the NBPA chooses to reject the latest offer, the "reset" proposal hits the table with the players getting a 47 percent share of BRI and the institution of a hard salary cap.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that there is some growing frustration within the union leadership.

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“Why do they keep scrambling us to New York for these meetings when they never listen to us?” one player representative told Yahoo! Sports. “We told them not to go past 53 percent. They did. We told them we’re not taking this deal. Why waste our time?”

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While that's only one voice, the sentiment has been echoed by some players throughout this process.

It's not hard to understand the frustration from the players' point of view. The union has offered concession after concession without much movement from the league, and it's obvious that the owners have already won these "negotiations" by a wide margin.

Emotions often enter the room when dealing with matters such as these, but it's time for cooler heads and logic to finally creep into these talks for an accord to be reached.

Philadelphia 76ers beat writer Kate Fagan had several interesting updates throughout the labor meeting on Thursday, and while most are preaching pessimism, Fagan took an opposing view and alluded to the idea that a deal could very well be just about done.

When one considers that Stern said that the league is through negotiating, it makes one wonder if a deal is closer than either side is portraying.

There remains far more to be lost than gained for both sides with the regression of negotiations at this juncture, and for a deal to fall apart now would be detrimental to both parties.

A 72-game schedule would mean that players would miss just a single paycheck, and that's going to be extraordinarily meaningful to a lot of guys who can't afford to miss a season, as it represents a significant portion of their career earnings.

Stern has been speaking to the rank-and-file players throughout this entire process, and that didn't change last night at his press conference. He was talking directly to those players itching to play, and telling them firmly that this is the deal to take.

Otherwise, this is going to get really ugly, and it's going to happen really quickly.

Miami Heat beat writer Ira Winderman does a great job of explaining the position of those players alluded to above.

The largest takeaway from all of this no matter how it's sliced is the fact that there just aren't all that many alternatives from what is currently being offered.

Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops had the quote of the night from Stern.

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"We have made our revised proposal, and we’re not planning to make another one. There’s nothing left to negotiate about,” commissioner David Stern said after the sides met for another 10 1/2 hours Thursday.

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If there is truly nothing left to discuss, it would certainly seem to support the idea that there was indeed a reason for optimism despite the overwhelming doomsday scenarios being presented everywhere.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports paints an interesting picture for the current position of the players.

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"The players' options are few, and none of them particularly appealing. They can put the deal to a vote, and if passed, they would be locked into a proposal that is an unmitigated victory for the owners—one that shifts $3 billion over 10 years from the players to the owners and also dramatically restricts the rules governing team payrolls, player contracts and player movement."

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The alternative? More missed games, a substantially worse offer from the league, a potentially lost season and the "nuclear winter" that Kobe Bryant referred to when he said he was hoping that a deal could be agreed upon in the near future.

Under the 72-game proposal, the league will still have its Christmas Day games, All-Star weekend and will wind up with just 10 games ultimately nixed from the campaign.

The offer is centered around an offer of a 50-50 BRI split—tax-paying teams would be able to use a mini mid-level exception rather than the full one.

There would also be a salary floor set at 85 percent of the salary cap number, ensuring all teams around the league have to spend money.

With all of that, there is one factor that isn't being as widely talked about as it should be, as it is seemingly a very important part of this deal for the players: they would be able to opt out after the sixth year of the 10-year deal.

It gives the players some level of flexibility for the long-term since they are sacrificing so much for the short-term, and that's the reality of what these negotiations have become.

Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated breaks it down.

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"The league has offered the union the right to opt out of the new collective bargaining agreement after six years instead of seven. The union has sought that earlier opt-out in part to get a chance to negotiate a new (and presumably better) deal just as the league’s lucrative new national television contract kicks in, after the 2015-16 season."

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The clock is ticking, and while Executive Director Billy Hunter and the NBPA may not have gotten everything they sought from the league, he recognizes that it's time to make a serious decision.

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"It’s not the greatest proposal in the world, but I have an obligation to at least present it to our membership."

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It may not be pretty, and there will certainly be opposition from both sides, but it's time for level-headed thought to prevail and the jump ball to be tossed at half court.

There's a deal to be made here, and it's the one currently on the table.