NBA Lockout: Players Need To Put Pride Aside and Accept Deal

The NBA lockout has now lingered on 147 days, and still these NBA players just don't get it.

It is clear that both the players and owners have been making life difficult for one another as well as the fans, yet there is no question that the players are the ones that are ultimately responsible for the situation getting out of hand in the negotiation process.

Talk about ridiculous.

According to recent updates on Twitter from ESPN NBA analyst Chris Broussard, these players will not only won't agree to a lower percentage of the league's profit and a hard salary cap, it is now these players that are looking for the following:

- "Four-year full mid-level available every year."

- They want superstars to be able to max out contracts that are 30 percent of the team's cap, not just 25 percent.

- Higher qualifying offers for restricted free agents.

Not only have the players gotten out of hand with both their requests and the simple fact they are filing lawsuit against the league, they have disrespected their fan base as well as ownership as a whole.

Let's not forget, these players may be the reason that fans come to watch, but it's the owners that are paying them their very salaries. It is also the fans of the NBA that come to watch and support these players, as a lingering lockout continues to give fans doubt and take away from their compassion for the league.

Filing several lawsuits from the league is an act of desperation to prove to the owners they won't be pushed over and lose the soft cap and cuts in league profit, yet ultimately it hurts the league's fans. There is no question that there is a loss of supporters of the NBA a good 147 days into the lockout, where "negotiations" do not exist essentially, as there is no negotiating of any sort from either side.

The bottom line for the players is that they are in a lose-lose situation at the moment. If they continue to file lawsuits and let the lockout linger on, in an attempt to scare league commissioner David Stern and ownership more than anything, the players lose fans and the respect of the very people that pay them.

David Stern and the owners are fuming, as the players fail to understand no season means no money for them, less compassionate fans for the league, and an evident tension between ownership and the players. The players need the money just as much as the owners do, considering that first-year players, aren't even signed to a contract period. It's then when you have rookies like E'Twaun Moore of the Boston Celtics going overseas to hoop it up.

The recent updates on the lockout further support the failure for the players to take into consideration just how essential their fan base is, and how what they are looking for only continues to hurt it. It also tarnishes the relationship between these players and owners, who will have to get back to business once this lockout is inevitably put to rest.