NEW YORK — The NBA and players’ association are ready to try mediation, and commissioner David Stern wants results quickly.
Stern said last week during an interview with WFAN radio in New York that without a deal today, when the sides meet with federal mediator George Cohen, his “gut” was that there wouldn’t be NBA basketball on Christmas.
Owners are opening two days of board meetings Wednesday, and Stern wants to be able to bring a deal to them. But can a mediator swoop in and smooth out two years of bickering in one day?
Attorney Jay Krupin, chair of EpsteinBeckerGreen’s national labor practice in Washington, doesn’t think so — unless the players are prepared to concede on some issues.
“If the players want to get back on the court, then this is a great time for them to try to show that they’re willing to make some type of compromise, and I think that’s what it is,” he said. “This is an opportunity to really determine whether or not the players are willing to make concessions. I think the owners are willing to walk away without concessions, so if the players really want to make concessions when they meet, that has to be expressed to the mediator.
“If that happens, then the burden turns to the NBA to say, ‘All right, you’ll be willing to make some concessions; now we’re willing to talk.’
“If they’re not willing to make concessions, then the mediation would just go on for the day, and it’ll let the NBA know that they probably have to cancel, go through Christmas and maybe even the rest of the season.”
Players feel they’ve conceded plenty financially, and they dismissed Stern’s attempt to attach added importance to today’s talks, with union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers saying it was just an “arbitrary deadline” for potential Christmas cancellations.
Stern was clear in the radio interview and others he gave late last week that he was just stating his opinion about further losses of games — but not about his desire for significant movement today.
Cohen, who tried to resolve the NFL’s labor dispute, met with the sides individually at their offices in New York on Monday. He will then oversee talks between their full bargaining committees today at a hotel.
Players oppose a hard salary cap, and they believe owners’ attempts to make the luxury tax more punitive and limit the use of spending exceptions will effectively create one. Also, each side has formally proposed receiving 53 percent of basketball-related income after players were guaranteed 57 percent under the previous collective bargaining agreement.
