Goodbye 2011-12 NBA Season: Union to Decertify, File Suit vs. League
Bodog take a look at the diminishing prospects of NBA 2011/12 with this great basketball betting update. We might not always agree with the online sportsbook but we applaud their efforts day in day out to bring you updates on basketball betting and other sports betting. Here’s what they have to say today about the lock out and the rapidly disappearing season:
The NBA owners had given the NBA Players Association one final proposal that the league said was essentially the last best one the players would get. Either the players had to accept it and a 72-game regular season would have started on Dec. 15 or the league would return to the bargaining table with a much worse offer.
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On Monday, the players not only said no, they have decided to decertify the union – legally speaking the union filed a disclaimer, which is quicker than a decertification — and file an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA. So essentially this means that we are now likely not to have a 2011-12 NBA season.
“As of this moment, we’re going to be in the process of converting the NBA Players Association into a trade association,” NBAPA executive director Billy Hunter, adding that the union has negotiated in good faith over two years and feels that they have given enough, while the NBA was “not willing and prepared to negotiate.”
The proposal players rejected Monday called for a 50-50 division of basketball-related income. Players are still unhappy with what they believe are too many restrictions for big-spending teams that would limit their free agent options, but NBA commissioner David Stern said the proposal is far better for players than the one player reps said they would reject last week. Now likely waiting for the players is a proposal that will call for a 53 percent to 47 percent split of BRI in the owners’ favor, a flex cap with a hard ceiling and rollbacks for current salaries.
Previously Stern had warned that players not pursue decertification, citing the federal lawsuit that the league filed in August that declared that the lockout does not violate antitrust laws and threatened to void all contracts if the union disbanded.
Look for more stars to now head overseas to play (which Deron Williams is currently doing in Turkey) because this battle is headed to the courts, and that will take months to resolve. Monday marked the 137th day of the lockout; the NFL lockout lasted 136 days.
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