After meeting for 5 hours, both sides haven’t reached an agreement yet and depending on who you ask there might be a completely different feel after the discussions.
Udonis Haslem felt that progress was made and he seemed positive, but his team mate may have felt completely different. According to a few sources, the meeting got heated when David Stern pointed at Dwyane Wade and Wade responded saying. “Don’t point at me.” This argument nearly ended negotiations but both sides were able to calm things down.
From Sekou Smith’s article on NBA.com -
“We’re all together on 53 [percent], right?” James said. “All together on 53 right?”
“LeBron, Wade and Paul want to fight this so hard, they don’t seem scared about missing the season,” one source in the negotiating room told Yahoo! Sports.
James, Wade and Paul believe the owners are bluffing in threatening to ultimately cancel the season to get the changes they want in the collective bargaining agreement, a source in the meeting said. In the meeting with union peers, the three stars declared their willingness to miss games rather than drop down from the 53 percent of BRI the union has proposed to the NBA.
Despite the bold talk out of the sport’s biggest stars, the union privately has expressed a willingness to move further toward ownership this weekend with an understanding that Stern wants desperately to cut a deal with the players and avoid a prolonged work stoppage.
If nothing else, the owners did see the star players’ resolve on Friday. Once the players entered the room with the owners, Wade reacted harshly to what he perceived as Stern’s condescending way of lecturing him on the issue.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul told the rest of the players association that they would rather sit this season out than make “further concessions” to the owners.
Despite the NBA’s biggest stars stance, the rest of the players association are willing to find common ground with the owners and will try to get a deal done.
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/cba_news/2011/09/30/fisher_sot.nba
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/cba_news/2011/09/30/stern_silver_post.nba
