Oklahoma City Thunder fans hoping that the NBA season might be saved were dealt a blow when the all-important meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13, between the players and owners ended with no resolution in sight. However, an email sent out by union president Derek Fisher painted an interesting twist to the story.
In the email, Fisher tells players not to believe everything they heard because the rift in the meeting on Tuesday was not between the players and owners. Fisher explained that the rift was between the owners themselves and they may be on the verge of dividing on the important issues in the NBA lockout.
This is a huge moment for the players.
According to reports, it looked like David Stern and the owners were headed towards accepting the players offer to lower their amount of the revenue sharing and it looked like the season was closing in on being saved. However, when the owners set out to discuss the points of the deal, at least two owners took the hard line and opposed it. This led to a huge disagreement between various owners and the only way to move forward now is for them to work this out among themselves.
Now, there are also disagreements among the players, who are trying to decide if they will continue to fight as a whole or decertify like the NFL Player’s Union did and sue the NBA on an individual basis. Fisher wants the players to put off this action until the owners come to an agreement while union executive director Bill Hunter still warns that half the season could be lost.
The players and fans have to hope that the owners are able to talk some sanity into the hard liners, which includes owners of both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns. If the commissioner and owners such as those from the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers approve of the new compromise, why would they let a small group of owners stand in the way.
Teams in areas like Oklahoma City and Portland are highly important in helping the economies of those small markets and the league has to take into consideration the communities that will be impacted by the lockout and not hold it up due to stubborn demands by a small group. Finally, players need to chill out on the decertification talk because ending the union will definitely eliminate at least half of the season if not more by interrupting the bargaining.
It’s just time to stop the madness before the NBA’s reputation is damaged worse than it already has been.
Author Shawn S. Lealos is an avid sports fan who has lived in Oklahoma for over 40 years.
Source: Yahoo! Sports