NBPA president Derek Fisher gives an update on NBA lockout negotiations
Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher has been a very busy man of late as he might very well have the worst job in sports right now trying to convince NBA owners to agree upon a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in order to end the NBA lockout.
Here is a video of Derek Fisher giving an update on The Jim Rome Show about the current negotiations:
Can NBPA president Derek Fisher end the NBA lockout without losing regular season games?
Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
The NBPA (National Basketball Player's Association) doesn't seem to be any closer to agreeing upon a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the NBA owners that would end the NBA lockout and get things back on track in the league. With the NBA regular season just around, the pressure is on the NBPA to come to a compromise with the NBA owners or the league could be in serious danger of missing games and seeing a lot of players going overseas to earn some paychecks.
With the recent news of the lucrative contract offered to Kobe Bryant from Italian team Virtus Bologna and the cancellation of all 43 preseason games, the negotiations between the two sides have to come to an agreement within the next few weeks to avoid what could be a repeat of the 1998-1999 NBA season where only 50 games were played.
The one guy that has a lot on his plate right now is none other than five-time NBA champion and Los Angeles Lakers point guard Derek Fisher. Not only is Fisher a Lakers legend, but he is a very busy man off the court as the NBPA president. Fisher's task during this off-season has been a tough one as he has been the voice of the NBA players in this negotiation and at this point there is a good chance that he is regretting taking this job.
Something that seems to be an ongoing theme in these talks is the NBA owners not willing to budge. Not only are the owners are the owners being stubborn about their stance in the current negotiation on a new CBA, but reportedly there has been some problems between a few owners on the new deal which makes things even more complicated than they already are.
In my opinion, Derek Fisher is made for these kind of situations and he will definitely have a future after basketball in the political arena, but whether or not he has what it takes to convince these owners to come to an agreement remains to be seen. Fisher definitely has the confidence of the fans and players around the league, but he will have a tough task ahead if he wants to end this NBA lockout and get back to business as usual.
It will be interesting to see what goes down in the coming weeks with big-name players like Kobe Bryant considering playing overseas and the scheduled start of the NBA regular season rapidly approaching.
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