NEW YORK — A 72-game season starting Dec. 15 is there for NBA players. All they have to do is agree to a revised proposal.
If not, they get a far harsher offer — a 53-47 split of revenues in the owners’ favor, a flex cap with a hard ceiling and salary rollbacks — and then who knows if there would even be an NBA season?
“I would not presume to project or predict what the union would do. . . . My hope is that the events of next week will lead us to a 72-game schedule,” commissioner David Stern said.
The league presented the players association with the new offer Thursday after nearly 11 hours of bargaining, hoping it would be enough to end the lockout. But union president Derek Fisher said it doesn’t address all the issues important to the players.
Union executive director Billy Hunter said the hope was to get the player reps to New York for a meeting by Monday or Tuesday, then discuss whether the new proposal was good enough to present to the full membership for a vote. They can say yes or no, but they shouldn’t bother asking for another meeting.
“There comes a time when you have to be through negotiating, and we are,” Stern said. The Associated Press
