I know, I know. It’s shocking. The NBAPA filed a grievance to the National Labor Relations Board to report that the NBA wasn’t negotiating in good faith. Mostly because, well, they aren’t. The proposal that the NBA has sent to the NBAPA included idaas like “drastic pay cuts,” “hard salary caps,” and “player givebacks.”
Sources have told ESPN.com that the players were so infuriated by the owners’ latest proposal, which seeks a nearly 40 percent rollback in existing contracts over three years and a hard salary cap, that the union would refuse to present a formal counterproposal
In a statement, the union said the unfair practices included failure to bargain in good faith, demanding huge financial takeaways from prior contracts without offering concessions in return, bypassing the Union to deal directly with players and threatening an unlawful lockout.
You’re not going to believe this one either, but the NBA doesn’t think it’s being unfair at all. The NBA issued an official press release essentially calling the NBAPA’s grievance a joke:
"There is no merit to the charge filed today by the Players Association with the National Labor Relations Board, as we have complied and will continue to comply — with all of our obligations under the federal labor laws," the NBA said in the statement. "It will not distract us from our efforts to negotiate in good faith a new collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association.
So lets see, no NFL, no NBA…looks like we’re going to be talking about college football a lot more this fall.