NEW YORK (AP) ― NBA players have until Wednesday to accept commissioner David Stern’s latest offer, though the response already seems obvious.
“Right now, we’ve been given the ultimatum, and our answer is that’s not acceptable to us,” union president Derek Fisher said.
But the next proposal promises to be worse, surely moving players and owners even further apart and threatening to destroy the season.
Early Sunday morning, the league said it offered players up to 51 percent of basketball-related income ― a figure the union insists is fiction. Regardless, it will drop to 47 percent Wednesday if players don’t accept the current offer by the league-imposed deadline.
No agreement by the deadline likely will trigger more calls to disband the union and take on the league in court, a battle that would take months.
“It’s fair to say that there are some who believe a vote to decertify is a vote to end the season,” said a person familiar with the owners’ thinking who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
