By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Dec. 16, 1998

The concept of being at a complete loss for words is rare for a journalist. But it's even more so for two sides of a labor dispute deciding how to split $2 billion in revenue generated by the National Basketball Association.

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That's where it stands ... for everybody, and it's not getting any better. Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, isn't about to hang a "gone fishing" sign, but NBA commissioner David Stern is about to go skiing for a week.

SO IF YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A SENSE of urgency among the troops, then you would be sadly mistaken. It's almost grown to the point of a teen-aged couple having their first big fight.

"I'm not calling him," Hunter said. "As long as they have all these pre-conditions for a meeting, there's no point. We're not going to do a piecemeal deal. All we've seen is the NBA deliberately distributing the message that we're about to close the deal, and then the next day we couldn't be further apart. This is like Japanese water torture.

"Things can't be too critical or extreme (from their vantage point) in view of the fact that commissioner Stern is planning a vacation in Aspen. If that's the case, I would assume that Jan. 1 is not the 'drop dead' date."

There is no "drop dead" date set for public consumption. It is becoming apparent that the NBA is both willing to blow up the season, or start in February and extend the regular season to get 45-50 games. Meanwhile, Hunter had a conference call with 130 players this past week, 15 of whom are concerned about a "drop dead" date being set before Christmas because they want to consider Europe as an option.

Actually,

David Stern doesn't seem to be showing a sense of urgency in the NBA labor talks. (Allsport)

it's becoming an even bigger mess for the players and they know it. FIBA, the governing body of international basketball, is not allowing NBA players under contract to play there. Still, there are plenty of free agents ready and willing to bolt.

"We know that FIBA is rejecting those players at the request of the NBA," Hunter said. "They're trying to cut off every opportunity just to make the players cave."

To Hunter's credit, he has kept the NBPA together. Why they have stayed together is an entirely different matter at this point. They have already lost the war, but the battles wage onward. They will not retain 57 percent of the basketball-related income, nor will they still have the Larry Bird Exception of unlimited salaries for teams to pay their own free agents. At the moment, Hunter is more concerned with exceptions that will raise the pay for the middle class and minimum players.

HUNTER CONTINUES TO BE infuriated by the obvious circumstance of negotiating against himself, continuously. The notion of giving back everything they've earned with regard to collective bargaining over the past 15 years really hurts. And he certainly doesn't want it to be his legacy.

"They keep saying it's about the high-end guys but they're hiding the facts of the entire package," Hunter said. "I've already given in on the hard cap and I almost choked. I don't see anyone capping any CEO salaries. I don't see anyone capping David Stern's salary."

There are too many ramifications to decertify the union unless the season is called off. It would revert to the old deal and it would require an injunction to prevent the players from being forced to adhere to their contracts. What Hunter did say that was interesting had to do with the behind-the-scenes negotiations for an alternative league that very well could happen with all the free agents out there.

Although Stern says he is willing to negotiate anytime and anyplace, Hunter continues to say the NBA refuses to negotiate. They won't come up to 55 percent of the gross revenue for the players, so the players won't budge below the 57 percent they got last season. The prospect of basketball becoming international during the next five years seems inevitable. When Forbes magazine recently revealed the average net gain for each NBA team last season was $7 million, it was a pretty tough pill for the players to swallow, and the average franchise is worth $170-200 million.

"And once the international game comes into play, the value of the teams will jump again," Hunter said.

The NBA isn't denying any of that. The league did argue the point that Hunter says he initiated the last meeting. An NBA news release said Stern did.

WHO CARES? NOTHING HAPPENED ANYWAY. The recent flurry of racially-oriented commentaries about the negotiations forced Hunter to say he can only dream of having the same hammer as Stern (fining capability of up to $5 million) when it comes to gagging his constituency.

"I don't think race is playing a role, maybe subliminally it may be out there," Hunter said. "You've got billionaire owners accustomed to seeing what they dictate, honored. On the other side of the table, you have players predominantly of African-American origin. People can read into it anything they want. It's all about dollars and hard economics."

All that rhetoric means there is little or no chance of the deal being consummated before Christmas. Sure, Stern could return to New York in an instant. But if Hunter goes home to San Francisco for the holidays, he won't be jumping on planes because Stern says jump. Eventually, they will be partners again. At the moment, there is no holiday spirit, nor should there be.

Using Hunter's metaphor, this is high-stakes poker game at its best and nobody is blinking. Then again, nobody is playing basketball either. Somebody please pass the mistletoe.

Mike Kahn is CBS SportsLine's executive editor.