by Tom Ziller
If he had to bet on it, National Basketball Players Association director Billy Hunter told attendees at a law conference in Baltimore Wednesday that he'd wager the NBA lockout would cost the league the entire 2011-12 season, reports Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun (via PBT).
This type of rhetoric isn't new to lockouts or Hunter; as early as a year ago, Hunter publicly stated that he believed there would be a painful, long lockout. But the NBA has never canceled an entire season due to a labor impasse. In 1998-99, the league lost 32 games and All-Star Weekend due to a lockout by NBA owners.
The NBA locked out its players on July 1, and the sides have held just one bargaining session in the 34 days since. That session, held on Monday, yielded no progress according to representatives from each side. The next day, the NBA sued the union to block decertification and threatened to void all existing player contracts if a dissolution of the union were successful. The NBPA has considered following the path of the NFL players' union and decertifying as a union in order to file anti-trust litigation against the league.
This type of rhetoric isn't new to lockouts or Hunter; as early as a year ago, Hunter publicly stated that he believed there would be a painful, long lockout. But the NBA has never canceled an entire season due to a labor impasse. In 1998-99, the league lost 32 games and All-Star Weekend due to a lockout by NBA owners.
The NBA locked out its players on July 1, and the sides have held just one bargaining session in the 34 days since. That session, held on Monday, yielded no progress according to representatives from each side. The next day, the NBA sued the union to block decertification and threatened to void all existing player contracts if a dissolution of the union were successful. The NBPA has considered following the path of the NFL players' union and decertifying as a union in order to file anti-trust litigation against the league.
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