The irony in all of this is that the owners are complaining that the players makes too much...well who gave them those contracts?  A player is only worth what someone will pay him and if the owners are dumb enough to give out some of this historically bad deals (Brian Cardinal, Allen Houston, etc.), then they should have to live with em.  

If the owners do get a hard cap, they will then complain that they are handcuffed and unable to build a team.  Rich spoiled brats.   

As for the players, it is nice to see a set of players finally have the upper hand.  They might not be smart enough to use it, but it is a nice change to see in sports negotiations.   

In the end, the bigger issues with the sport are its rising ticket prices.  The average NBA fan is not the Rockefeller-esque fan who has infinite money to support the team like fans in the NFL or NHL or MLB.  Half filled stadiums are the norm now and that is the issue they need to fix. 

The Owners and Players need to come to a Realistic agreement but as for the Owners losing money, they own a team in the NBA not the NFL what do they really expect? Plus the NBA is so mismanaged by Sterns and his Moronic Owners that should have known when they bought the teams they have that they would lose money. I think both will agree later this season or next season but the NBA have big issues even bigger than just mismanagement by Sterns but Official Corruption by Sterns. And for those that want to call Racist names as well as the Players being overpaid, why don't All of You Racist go watch HillBilly Fishin' instead. 

I thought Stern said if they didnt have a deal by last night the season was over.  Now it's tomorrow?  And after tomorrow, will be it be Friday and then the weekend and so on and so forth?  A threat is only useful if it is backed with something.  The players know he and the owners have no leverage.  

On a journalistic note, how do you write an article based on the tweets (none of which are facts) of someone who writes for the same site?  Especially since the dope he is citing is the same guy who has been wrong about just about everything he has written about (remember Carmelo?).  Damn lazy. 

Imagine if your boss came up and said Guy, the company is losing 1 million dollars/yr. I need to cut your pay by 11% to make up losses. You ask, can i see the financial statements to back up the losses claim boss? He says no, but i'm telling you we are losing $1 mill, and you HAVE to take a paycut. You say ok the economy is tough, i'll give you 6% back, he says no I want my 11% or i'll lock you out the bldg. He also says i need to keep your salary at $20,000 for 10 yrs. If the company expands in the next 10yrs, your pay will still be $20,000. LISTEN TO ME we are losing MONEY!

You say, but i work in the Marketing dept and i continually promote our biz and bring in huge sales. How can our biz grow, but you keep my salary fixed at $20,000, esp since because of me you are getting an est $1.2bill/yr tv deal. Boss says listen you lil .... take it or leave it. 11% or LOCK the bldg. Hehe.

But you all side with the Billionaire owners cause what, Lebron did a 1hr long show. Get over it. You are basically siding with Billionaires who are screaming they are broke. I guess your finances are awesome. Good day. Tell those bball "gangstas" to take that paycut, they are dumb anyway right?

Cancel the season and then see what the spoiled players think.  The NBA finally seemed to get back on track this year and they're going to let all of their popularity go away over a lockout.  I'm totally for the owners on this one.  If 22 out of 30 owners are losing money, obviously something needs to change.  I would be more than happy for the season to be cancelled, then I wouldn't have to watch the NBA network/ESPN for a whole year.  Owners need to hold their ground on this, cancel the season.  Screw the overpaid players, make them find a job somewhere else, doubtful that most of them could find a job anyway.  Then we'll see how they feel when they go crawling back to the negotiating table begging for a deal so they can get their paychecks.  Besides College basketball is way better than NBA anyway.  At least there is heart in college and they actually play defense.  NBA is just a traveling fest.

 LeBron musta really given you ppl a hard-on. Get over it, jeez. I frequent this site often since the writers are pretty darn awesome, great articles, but ppl on these forums. What do comments like "let these gangstas" have in relation to lockout or basketball. We get it Redsfan, you HATE the NBA Player, but somehow end up in the NBA section reading blogs and commenting. That comment of yours though "let these gangstas" is priceless, i mean come on a "random phrase" used to describe a predominatly Black league. If someone called you a racist, you'd be immediately offended wouldn't you?

Replacement players would be perfect. I vaguely remember as a kid the NFL replacement players. Eagles were so bad that year. I didn't notice a difference :-)

Cancel the season already Stern! Make these gangstas try finding real jobs...if they can. They're spoiled brats. Period. 50-50 split is the only stand that seems fair for both parties.

Ken Berger says:

If the players submitted and gave the owners the $300 million they are losing, and there still was no profit? That would mean there is a serious flaw with this business model that has nothing to do with the players, and everything to do with there being too many teams -- and teams in markets that can't succeed.

I can see that a journalist might have some misconceptions about business but this statement is so far to the left it is teetering on the drop-off. The 57% paid to the players is higher than any other sport. Compare the NFL at 47% and a much richer TV contracts and it is simple math to know that the players at 54% are still . Talking about Paul Allen is deliberately disingenuous and misleading. Is he suggesting that the Blazer owner view his business as a charity? With an average $356M value the reasonable expectation of return is $20-25M per year and not a loss of $3-4M. No business can stay in business without a return on investment.

As for the other owners, not named Paul Allen, a number of them would have to list their franchise asset as one of their largest. They have every right and need to expect the opportunity for a profit. With 22 of the 30 teams losing money the league cannot endure long. That is why this CBA is so important. The owners can cancel the season and perhaps lose less money. It is not about $4B none of that goes in the owner's pockets. Ask yourself: would you feel secure in your job if your employer had lost money every year for six years? I sure would not as the layoffs are bound to come or the doors will be permanently closed. At 46% the owners still do not have profit. That would require a further drop to 34% to earn a 4% return on investment. So the owners have already gone half way (12%) and the 46% represents an 11% drop for the players. It is unlikely that they get much more than that even after a year of no basketball. That is why the reality of this CBA rests on the players swallowing their pride and settling now for the best deal the owners can offer.

This seems to be headed for a lost season. Stern is not a believable figure. The players seem unwilling to accept the premise that franchises are losing money. The owners' best bargaining chip may be contraction. The only issue that has seen any compromise from either side is modification of the salary cap. The NBA has been operating with an unsustainable business model for over a decade and the decision making by Stern has been influenced by cronyism at the expense of sound fundamentals. 

It is hard to believe that baseball was able to resolve its financial problems (relatively) while the NBA has been mismanaged into its current mess. Stern will be viewed as a short sighted commissioner who presided over the first full season shutdown of a major sports league. He is incompetent and short sighted.