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NEW YORK (Reuters) - On what should have been the second day
of the NBA season, negotiators for players and owners met for
less time than it takes to play an average NBA game Wednesday
and moved no closer to the end of the 127-day-old lockout.
NBA commissioner David Stern said the two sides were
"worlds apart" after a brief bargaining session that quickly
disintegrated into accusations and finger pointing.
Stern criticized union chief Billy Hunter for publicly
predicting after Monday's talks that no games would be played
before January. The commissioner also questioned the influence
of agents for the highest-paid players in the union's stand.
Hunter in turn accused Stern of trying to destroy unity
among the union members.
"The commissioner has continuously tried to drive a wedge
through the players and repeatedly he has failed," Hunter
charged. "He attempted to pit the superstars against the
minimum-salaried players and he has tried to buy off the current
veterans at the expense of younger and future players. Now he
wants to split the players, agents and the union."
The 53rd NBA season was to start Tuesday with 10 games and
another 11 games were scheduled for Wednesday, but the league
already has canceled the entire November schedule.
The central issue that has the talks stalled is the division
of basketball-related income (BRI), which last year amounted to
nearly $2 billion.
Stern discussed some details of the league's latest
proposal, which included a 50-50 split of BRI between owners and
the players, who want no less than 60 percent.
"We're starting on two different sides of a very long
page...," Stern said.
"The agents for top-end players would be most affected and
their view is however good the deal may be for 400 players, it
won't fly for the top 30 because they won't make an unlimited
amount and the other players would be held hostage," Stern said
in a teleconference.
The owners' proposal would bump the minimum annual salary
from $272,500 to $350,000, with a 10-year veteran guaranteed a
minimum of $1 million.
Hunter insisted the that player agents had nothing to do
with the union's position.
"As David Stern is well aware, despite his current ruse,
(union president) Patrick Ewing, the negotiating committee and
myself have been in charge of these negotiations since day one
and that will continue to be the case," Hunter said.
"When the owners show some willingness to engage in
compromise rather than concession bargaining, the negotiating
committee -- not the agents -- will be glad to recommend the
deal to our players," Hunter said.
Until Tuesday the NBA had never missed a game due to a labor
dispute in its 52-year history. By wiping out the first four
weeks of the season, the NBA has already canceled 194 games at a
cost of $14 million in player salaries per game, according to
Stern.
"When I heard the union announce with some certainty the
season wouldn't start until January, they must know things we
don't know," Stern said.
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