NEW YORK — With their turn, the players passed.
NBA players declined to present a new economic proposal to owners Friday, less than a week before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
Dressed in matching T-shirts urging solidarity, about 40 players attended the negotiating session, the final one before owners could vote on whether to lock them out if no deal is reached. But once there, they decided not to make any move to close the distance between the sides’ financial positions.
“There’s still such a large gap, we feel that any move for us is real dollars we’d be giving back from where we currently stand, as opposed to where our owners have proposed numbers that in our estimation don’t exist right now,” union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said. “They’re asking us to go to a place where they want us to go.”
Footnotes.
The Grizzlies extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Marc Gasol, giving them the chance to match any offer he might get this offseason.
The 7-foot-1 Gasol averaged 15 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in helping the Grizzlies upset top-seeded San Antonio to open the playoffs.
• The Pacers picked up the 2012-13 team options on Darren Collison, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George.
• The Raptors picked up options on guard-forward DeMar DeRozan and forwards James Johnson and Ed Davis.
• The Bulls acquired the rights to No. 23 pick Nikola Mirotic from the Timberwolves for No. 28 pick Norris Cole of Cleveland State, second-rounder Malcolm Lee of UCLA and cash.
The Associated Press
