Eric Yee
Online Editor
For the second time in 13 years, the NBA began the season in a lockout. Commissioner David Stern cancelled all games through November.
A lockout is a time period where players and team owners are unable to reach an agreement on revenues and player salaries.
Derek Fisher, the president of the NBA Players Association (NBAPA) and guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, said the lockout is nowhere close to being resolved.
According to the league’s deputy commissioner, teams will lose millions of dollars in the cancelled weeks. This big sum of money is disastrous for everyone.
One solution some players are taking is going overseas to play, particularly in European leagues.
These leagues have been known to offer short-term contracts to players as an alternative for the locked out NBA.
Thirteen-time NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers signed a one-year, $6.7 million contract to play for the Italian team Virtus Bologna.
Some younger basketball players are going back to school. These men are looking into attending classes, but they cannot play for collegiate teams.
Warrior guard Stephen Curry is returning to Davidson during the lockout, where he will work on finishing up his degree in sociology.
The lockout is especially difficult for the rookies, and is not the best way for these young men to begin their NBA careers. Twins Markieff and Marcus Morris, and Klay Thompson find themselves unemployed and without a source of income.
Basketball teams earn money from selling tickets, jerseys, memorabilia, and other team merchandise. This money is to be shared with the players.
Issues arise when the owners want more money and the player’s association wants more money for the players. If no agreement is made no one gets paid, and there is a lockout.
Basketball games are meant to be fun. The one thing preventing all this is money. The average salary for an NBA player was $5.84 million.
The league minimum is $457,588 a year for a rookie and $800,000 for a veteran. This is far beyond what the average American makes a year.
In the past 40 years of professional North American sports, there have been three MLB, three NBA, two NFL, and four NHL lockouts or strikes, totalling 12 breaks. The action of players and owners is unacceptable.
Hopefully the lockout is resolved soon so we can watch some real basketball.
