The NBA formally notified teams Tuesday that it has canceled games through Dec. 15, a source told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard.
The news comes one day after the the players’ union rejected the owners’ latest offer and announced its intention to disband and file an antitrust lawsuit against the league.
Team union representatives voted unanimously Monday to file a “disclaimer of interest” that will dissolve the players’ union.
Executive director Billy Hunter and union president Derek Fisher announced that with negotiations between the sides at a stalemate, they planned to file an antitrust lawsuit within 48 hours. The suit will seek a summary judgment that deems the NBA shutdown which began July 1 to be illegal.
Hunter then acknowledged in an interview with NBA TV on Monday that, even though the NBPA pushed for disclaiming its status as the players’ collective bargaining representative over decertification to get into a courtroom faster, there is a “high probability” that the entire 2011-12 season will be lost because of the lengthy nature of court proceedings.
Said commissioner David Stern in a subsequent interview on ESPN: “The union decided in its infinite wisdom that the proposal would not be presented to membership [for a vote].” Referring to union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, Stern added ominously: “Obviously Mr. Kessler got his way and we are about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA.”
“If I were a player,” Stern continued, “I would be wondering what it is that Billy Hunter just did.”
Tuesday, the 138th day of the lockout, was the day NBA players were to have received their first paychecks of the 2011-12 season. According to CNBC, the average NBA player lost $220,000 as a result of the stalemate with the owners.
WRITTEN BY Information from ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and The Associated Press contributed to this report & FULL STORY HERE
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