The headline is the good news. This is the bad news…
When the sides last met on June 30, the players offered a six-year agreement in which they would cut their take of basketball-related income (BRI) from 57 percent to 54.6 percent — or $100 million per year over the six years.
Owners are seeking a 10-year agreement with a hard salary cap, and their most recent proposal targeted paying the players at least $2 billion in salaries in each of the 10 seasons.
Players have argued that their cut of BRI would be cut from 57 percent to less than 40 percent under the owners’ most recent proposal, while owners have maintained they need fundamental financial changes to an operating system in which they claim 22 of the league’s 30 teams lost money last season. The union disputes that contention.
As Larry Coon explained a few weeks ago, the two sides are miles apart. They can’t even agree on which numbers to use.
