The NBA and its locked-out players are unlikely to meet again before Monday, almost assuring the first two weeks of regular-season games will be canceled.
Who’s to blame for scuttling a proposed weekend meeting between the sides depends on who you ask.
Sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard that the union asked for the meeting, and the owners agreed — on the condition the players agree to a 50-50 split of basketball-related income. When the union rejected that stance, the owners said there was no need to meet, the sources said.
NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed to ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher that the owners are sticking to the 50-50 revenue split. But he said it was the players, not the owners, who declined to meet.
“We told the union today that we were willing to meet as early as Sunday,” Frank said. “We also advised them that we were unwilling to move above the 50-50 split of revenues that was discussed between the parties on Tuesday but that we wanted to meet with them to discuss the many remaining open issues. The union declined.”
As a result, the first two weeks of the season will almost certainly be canceled.
— Reported by Chris Broussard of ESPN the Magazine
