The NBA lockout is a touchy situation to some. True basketball fans watch as owners and players debate over millions and million of dollars. The expired Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has disappointed many people when the lockout began at 12:01 on July 1st, 2011. The CBA is basically an agreement to the percentage of basketball related income (BRI) each side gets. The lockout prevented players from practicing, beginning training camps, and talking to team physicians and doctors.

Since the lockout ended up running into the pre-season and regular season, players ended up signing with teams and leagues all over the world. Some ninety players from the NBA including New Jersey Nets star Deron Williams. Other star players include Andrei Kirilenko, Tony Parker, and Kenyon Martin. They signed small 1 year deals, to keep in shape for as long as the lockout was in effect.


Many people ask why the lockout had to happen in the first place. The CBA is a contract and like all other contracts this one expired. Previous CBA have expired but many times both sides come to an agreement. These contracts usually last any where five to fifteen years. The thing that was unusual with this one is the owners and players union didn’t start negotiating until just before the contract expired. This caused them to be unable to reach a deal before the lockout ended, and on top of that, they couldn’t reach a deal in the first place.


That is why the NBA lockout occurred. The contract expired and the sides got greedy. In my opinion, these lockouts are pointless and they need to realize no matter how much time they spend fighting for money, there just losing money in the long run. They lose fan appeal and a lot of income.

Just recently, the lockout was uplifted, when the owners and players were able to uplift the lockout and reach an agreement. The training camps will officially begin December 9th and players in the free agent market are free to sign with teams. Also, trades between organizations are now an option.