By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — As noted in this earlier post, a few details of what was in the owners’ latest proposal to the players’ union have come to light. Here is another one: SheridanHoops.com has learned that the owners have proposed four different levels of the luxury tax, with the tax increasing from a dollar-for-dollar levy on teams slightly above the luxury tax threshold (which was $70.307 million last season, when the Lakers, Magic and Mavericks were reportedly the only tax-paying teams),
NBA Lockout: Short meeting on ‘ideas and concepts’ – UPDATED
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — If things had gone poorly Tuesday in the jump-started NBA collective bargaining talks, the sides would have let that be known. So it should probably be seen as a positive sign that the owners and players retreated to their neutral corners after meeting for less than three hours and agreed to meet again today. I tweeted back on June 30 that there was probably a deal to be done at 52/48 in terms of the split in
NBA lockout negotiations to resume Tuesday
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com broke the news: “Tuesday and Wednesday represent the last opportunities to bargain this week with several key members of both sides’ negotiating teams observing Rosh Hashanah on Thursday and Friday.” “The precise composition and format for the negotiations is still being determined due to a scheduling conflict of at least one key member of the parties that have made progress in small-group settings since Aug. 31. Once that is resolved, the goal is to continue with the small-group
Heisler Column: Goodbye mid-level, hello NBA season
By Mark Heisler Gee, already? After a one-month stalemate, a year of posturing, hints of contraction, et al., NBA owners and players began to engage last week…. Almost. The owners reportedly bumped their offer up… by like 1 percent. Hey, these things proceed at their own excruciating pace, and it was still early to expect anyone’s best offer. There was David Stern’s usual foreshadowing (“The calendar is not our friend”) and his usual light moment, even as darkness gathered (“We told them we wouldn’t say anything,
Lockout update: Hunter: “I don’t think they’re ready to do a deal”
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — The NBA will announce the postponement of training camps and exhibition games Friday, according to union director Billy Hunter, who dismissed the forthcoming move as the league “playing semantics.” In an exclusive interview with SheridanHoops.com, Hunter said the league has made “glacial” movement recently in the amount of aggregate dollars they are willing to devote to player salaries, but those proposals have been hypothetical rather than formal. “In general, we haven’t made any progress,” Hunter said. “I really
NBA Lockout Update: Generous amnesty provision?
By Chris Sheridan NEW YORK — Negotiations to end the NBA lockout are resuming today in Manhattan with all the heavy hitters in attendance, so there will be some news before the end of the day. Stay tuned on that front. In the meantime, chew on these two articles: In the Oregonian, columnist John Canzano reports an amnesty provision could be part of the new labor agreement, and it would provide some serious cap flexibility leaguewide: “Two NBA sources told me Tuesday that they believe
Heisler column: Only Stern knows true timetable
By Mark Heisler Mama, put my guns in the ground, I can’t shoot them anymore. That long, black cloud is comin’ down. Feel like I’m knocking … Oh, not yet? This just in: The NBA season, preseason, training camps and even the pre-camp media days aren’t over yet! As for those hopelessly stalemated talks with rifts reportedly opening on both sides? Yeah, right. Everything you’ve seen and heard to this point is play-acting. As far as actual negotiations, neither side has even started yet. Given the NBA
Quote of the morning from David Stern
By Chris Sheridan From NBA commissioner David Stern, via Associated Press writers Jaime Aron and Greg Beacham: “The clock is ticking, but it hasn’t struck midnight yet,” he said. “We have time to do what has to be done and we’d like to do it, actually.” In my view, the clock hasn’t even struck 11 o’clock yet. I still say the deal gets done sometime before or around Oct. 1, as I wrote in my debut column for this site less than two weeks