After meeting with player representatives from all 30 teams, union president Derek Fisher and executive director Billy Hunter announced that the players have rejected the NBA's final offer, likely ending hope for a 2011-12 NBA season. The NBPA will file anti-trust action against the league and will be represented by David Boies, who represented both Microsoft and the NFL in their respective anti-trust cases.
The union will file a Disclaimer of Interest, meaning the union as we know it no longer exists as Hunter says they are now a "trade association".
NBA commissioner has said that if the players rejected this deal that the offer would be "reset", including their percentage of basketball related income (BRI) dropping from 50 to 47. The players, for some reason, are calling Stern's bluff and feel that their litigation will succeed where the NFL players association failed in their labor struggle.
The decision of the players, which Fisher said was unanimous among all 30 teams, will likely force the cancellation of the entire 2011-12 season. As they try to fight for a better deal -- which isn't likely to ever be on the table -- the players will be losing a season of money that they will never recoup.
Once again it appears as if the players are completely unaware of what is going on with this dispute. If you were going to dissolve the union, why wait until November? This move -- again, when you see how it failed for the NFL players -- would have only made some sense if it happen four months ago.
The only hope for a season is for Stern and the owners to blink and come back with an improved deal within 48 hours.