So here we go...the lastest news from this weekends talks between the NBA owners and the players & players union have led us to this - David Stern gave the owners latest offer to the players & union and said basically "its good until Wednesday, November 9th. After that, the offer gets worse." Word is that Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher have already told the league that they not only wouldn't accept this offer from the owners, but that they wouldn't even put it to a vote of the players that make up the union. Wow. The details range on the offer from what Stern said (a flex band which is a range of BRI split from 49-51% depending on how much BRI is generated during the season) to what the union lawyers said (basically a refutation of Stern's description, saying it realistically wouldn't be more than 50.2% under best case scenarios) but one thing is for sure: the offer on BRI isn't about to go up from the NBA owners side.
Add into the mix this one nugget of interesting news...the rumor is that none other than Michael Jordan himself has been one of the most vocal hardline owners in the room. As a player, he was interested in generating revenue for the players...and now has completely changed his position as the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His stance now seems to be that he needs to get paid, and that the players should be happy to accept a 47-53% split in favor of the owners. Funny, but perhaps not surprising. As Jordan is legendary for this competitive nature, its small wonder that he wants to "win" these negotiations - and as a small market owner, he has perhaps even more of a vested interest in ensuring that his team has a chance to compete for a championship without the deep pockets of teams like New York, LA, Miami, or Chicago. And if you throw into the mix that he also had to pay his ex-wife approximately $168 million in divorce settlement money; perhaps Jordan is looking to get his divorce financed by the NBA players? Jordan's divorce was finalized a few years ago, but much like the games lost in the month of November, that is money that's gone and won't ever come back again.
Here is the link to the most recent update from the Worldwide Leader
ESPN NBA Article
Coming up next - Decertification: What it is, what it means, and how its the NBA players weapon of last resort.
Stay tuned.
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