November 26, 2011

NBA Lockout Finally Ends

By - Kris Fletcher

After 149 days, the NBA lockout is finally over.

The league and its players came to a tentative agreement Saturday morning after sixteen hours of marathon talks in New York City.

Training camps and free agency will begin on December 9th, with the season tipping off on Christmas day.

Photo by: Getty Images
While the rest of the existing schedule must be reworked, the Boston-New York, Miami-Dallas and Chicago-Los Angeles Lakers opening day triple-header is expected to go on as originally planned to start what will now be a 66-game campaign.

It is believed the players accepted a 49-51% band of basketball-related-income after getting 57% under the previous agreement.

Several other issues will be worked out over the next few days, possibly including a new age limit for players entering the draft.

Ratification by the players will take up to a week and owners are set to vote on the terms "in due course," according to NBA commissioner David Stern.

"We've reached an understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations," Stern told reporters. "But we're optimistic that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin on December 25th, Christmas Day, with a triple-header. We're very pleased that we've come this far. There's still a lot of work to be done in a lot of places, with a lot of committees and player groups, but we're optimistic that it will hold and we'll have ourselves an NBA season."

The NBPA must re-form and an antitrust suit must be settled as part of any agreement.

3 comments:

  1. I doubt anyone even cares.

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  2. I'm actually glad they are going to play. I'll take the NBA over the NHL anyday.

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  3. I'm looking forward to the triple header on Christmas day. The best teams in the league will all be in action. Great way to start the season.

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