Mo Evans: NBA Will Lockout, If Only For Short Time

Suggest you read Michael Lee’s whole piece on the impending NBA lockout, but here are some of the finer points: “[Maurice] Evans, who joined the Wizards in a trade deadline deal with Atlanta involving Hinrich, said two weeks ago that his primary objective this offseason is making sure that owners and players can reach a deal, ‘so we can have a season next year. I’m very optimistic.’ He conceded that a lockout would occur, but only because he doesn’t expect an agreement to be reached before the current CBA expires on July 1. The sides are extremely far apart, though the owners are expected to deliver a new proposal to the players’ union, possibly by Friday. … ‘In my opinion, the current deal we have now is actually working,’ Evans said. ‘So if we can just work from there and try and figure out something that works for everybody… Again, we want to bargain with them. We don’t want to throw darts and say who is right and who is wrong. We just want to get a deal. There has to be some model that says this is how we do business and it’s consistent from here out. Tweak this, and work from there. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything more we can give and a hard cap is definitely not going to happen.’ … Evans is paying close attention to the NFL labor situation, which was made more complicated when its players decertified the union and filed an antitrust lawsuit the day before team owners locked them out. This week, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled the league must lift its lockout, but the NFL is seeking a stay at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The NFL players’ victory has raised optimism that something could get done without the NBA destroying the momentum of an exciting regular season and playoffs by having a prolonged lockout. But until the NFL situation is completely resolved, Evans said in a text message this week, he would only classify it as a ‘step in the right direction.'”