Kobe says “Too close to getting a deal done”

Kobe is due to make over $25 MILLION dollars this year. He’s not trying to lose that.

The players could decertify, but that means the season will most likely be lost. I don’t like what the owners have done, but I think it’s time for the players to swallow their pride and just accept the deal. Hopefully, both sides can ease up just a little bit more and come to an agreement that’s at least acceptable by both sides.

 The owners are being greedy (IMO) but the players are being stubborn. I understand they’re trying to get the best deal possible… But the deal will barely affect most of the current players. Honestly I would just like to see the season start again by any means necessary so that things can go back to normal.

The thing about these kinds of deals and CBAs in different sports is.. the players will NEVER get that money back.  After this CBA expires, now that the owners will have 50% or whatever it is they get, what are they going to ask for, 55%?  What about the CBA after that? 58%?

The owners will ALWAYS want MORE AND MORE after every CBA and the players will not be able to get ANY of that money back.

The players should just ask for some minor tweaks to the current deal, then sign and run with it.  The offer can only get worse from this point on.  There is not another league in the world that can compare to the compensation in the NBA.  The players really have no ground to fight in this "war".  The owners can lock them out for as long as those players can financially handle.  If NBA is reporting the truth that only 8 teams out of 30 teams could make money, I don’t see any reasons for them to rush into a deal just to get a season started.  I don’t think NBA is being entirely honest, but I would think at least 10 teams are bleeding with the crazy spending that the moronic GMs incurred for a lot of small markets.

The small market owners are definitely looking for the best deal they can get from the big market owners and the players and they don’t need to step back as missing a season could possibly mean losing less money for them.

The players would be stupid to think they can get a better deal by waiting it out.  Decertification would only benefit superstars who have market demands, for most of the non-stars, it would be a disaster.  That’s why guys like Dwight Howard, DWade, Paul Pierce would be for decertification.  For guys like Steve Blake, decertification would mean most of the salary would go to the like of LBJ, DWade, D12, and they would only get leftovers.

If the players are being smart, they should work out this offer and take some cuts.

They should also check with Bill Guerin (a former NHL star).  He was the biggest voice against making deal with the NHL before they had a lockout year.  His recently interview showed that he regretted the decision for staying strong against the owner and missed a season because they got worse deal than they could have gotten before the lost the season.  Losing the season became meaningless and made it worse off for the players.  Pierce should go talk to Guerin and learned.

Imagine if tommorow night we are actually talking about when the season will begin, early season stuff, like underrated teams, potential most improved players, rookies of the year, potential MVPs, Playoff projections. That would be awesome.

Oh don’t you do that to me OhCanada… I’ve been burned too many times before to start hoping again, that’s just cruel man.

 Kobe’s more concerned about his window for championships closing and wasting a year with a lockout, more than the $25 million he’s owed… The man has made enough money to buy a small country; his legacy can’t be bought.

@Based-Out-Like-23

That’s a GREAT point. The players will never ever ever get this money back. That’s why I always say to people… IF the league makes a TON of revenue over the next ten years of the new CBA and the players want to renegotiate for a new deal, the owners are NOT going to want to give the players back any of that money lol. IF the players accept 50, then it’s only down from here. They’ll never go back up.

I think that’s why they’ve been fighting so hard because they know this. It’s only down from here. The owners have done a great job strong arming the players. Hopefully, during the next CBA the players will be more prepared.

@projectpat310

That’s true about Kobe’s championship window, but don’t think for one second that Kobe isn’t concerned about the $25 million he’s owed this season.

I don’t think in any other major sport there is a 50-50 split of the revenue.  The owners need to realize that nobody pays to see them.

Other sports have higher BRI percentages, but how many players are on a football team? 50? with 32 teams in the league? the money gets spread out further than a 30 team league with 12 players on each team. Every other major sport has much larger teams and in most cases more teams than the NBA

If there will be no role back of contracts then a lot of current players will not lose out immedately or will be on a lesser contract next time due to their age for example KG, Nash, Kobe etc. The real losers could be the guys who wll be FA’s next summer or players still on their rookie deals. But I think that the key is looking beyond the Franchise level guys as for example D-Rose-MVP wll make millions through his endorsements/sponsorships so whether his next contract is say $85 million over 5 years or $60 million over 4 years if the length of contract is reduced won’t really affect him.

I feel that the players want to protect MLE players and below and this could include the rooke deals as although you could think that reducing them would not affect current players, the player’s union may well want to protect it’s future members.

i agree with you he is more concerned with the champoinship more than money, remember how they lost to dallas? a guy that competitive even if he does not show it, is more frustrated than bynum any of his teammates, plus he will be a year older next season he do not want to waste a year.

Why would players decertify if they are most likely going to loose (this according to many reports). Owners have all the leverage, they have money they can wait as long as they want while the players don’t have anything. Shouldn’t this be a no brainer?