Lockout Limbo
Though only in its early stages, the NBA lockout already has
players, teams, agents and even fans on edge
by Jackie MacMullan and Phil Taylor
Posted: Wed July 14, 1998
 The numbing language of labor war is upon us again, causing eyes
to glaze over as the public's disgust gives way to boredom. The
NBA owners' lockout of the players on July 1 not only caused all
activity to cease—there can be no trades, player signings,
NBA-sanctioned summer leagues or contact between players and
team representatives—but also guaranteed that the only news
traveling through the off-season grapevine will involve gross
revenues, distribution of merchandising income and similarly
stimulating topics.
For the moment the NBA is little more than a list of issues on a
legal pad. Foremost among them is the salary cap, from which the
owners want to eliminate all loopholes, especially the Larry
Bird exception, which allows teams to re-sign their own free
agents for any amount, regardless of their cap space. The rule
has driven contracts for some stars, such as the Washington
Wizards' Juwan Howard and the Miami Heat's Alonzo Mourning, past
$100 million, and the owners say several of the league's 29
teams will be on the road to financial ruin if such salaries
continue to proliferate. The National Basketball Players
Association argues that the league's revenues are still
growing—exhibit A is the NBA's four-year, $2.6 billion
television contract (with NBC and Turner Sports), which goes
into effect next season—and that players are simply being paid
what the market will bear. Also at issue is the rookie salary
scale, which includes a provision that allows first-round draft
picks to become free agents after three seasons. The owners want
to lengthen that amount of time; the players' association doesn't.
The bottom line is that the players and the owners can't agree
on how to divide the spoils of their $1.7 billion-per-year
operation. The only thing they seem to agree on is that there is
no reason to believe that the dispute will be resolved before
training camps are scheduled to open in October. As usual in
sports work stoppages, it's nearly impossible to root for either
side. The NBA owners control franchises worth hundreds of
millions of dollars, and the players, with an average salary of
$2.6 million, aren't exactly factory workers fighting to make a
living wage.
But there are far more than two angles from which to view the
lockout. There is the vantage point of a veteran role player
whose career is at a crossroads, or a general manager who can't
implement his master plan, or a fan who can't understand why the
only item in this dispute that isn't considered locked is his
wallet. Look beyond the rhetoric and the financial projections,
and you will find that there are dozens of personal lockout
stories. Here are six of them.
Issue date: July 20, 1998
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