NEW YORK: Union officials said Wednesday that NBA players and owners are about $7 billion apart over a 10-year span in their most recent proposals, a significant gap to close to avoid a work stoppage. So far apart in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement that union president Derek Fisher said when players are briefed on the state of the talks, they are in “total disbelief” and ask why they even bother having meetings. “When we put our spreadsheets up, we put it on the board, we lay it out, everybody's at a loss for how to even begin to close this gap,” the Lakers' guard said. They have only until June 30, when the current CBA expires, and they'll take another crack at it during another session Friday. But as they continue to disagree over issues relating to the salary cap as well as the enormous gap in economics, it becomes clear how difficult it will be to avoid a lockout. “Their demand is gargantuan and we just can't meet it,” executive director Billy Hunter said. Hunter and Fisher decided to meet with reporters after being caught off guard Tuesday when NBA Commissioner David Stern revealed details of the league's latest proposal during a press conference after a bargaining session. Both sides had largely kept specifics from the media during the negotiations. Yet Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver laid out their proposal for what they called a “flex cap,” in which teams would be targeted to spend $62 million in salary, but could exceed that number through the use of exceptions to an unspecified level before the ceiling kicked in. The biggest surprise for the union: They said owners never mentioned the $62 million figure to them during discussions. Players insist what was proposed was still a hard cap because there was an eventual limit, and they have said from the start they will not agree to a hard cap. Fisher said the “flex” cap was a “total distortion of reality,” saying “it's not a flexible cap, it's a hard cap.” Hunter allowed that the players would have to consider a hard cap if they were to receive a much higher cut of revenues. They are currently guaranteed 57 percent, a number they say the league wants to massively decrease. The league's proposal guaranteed players' total compensation would never fall below $2 billion a year in a 10-year contract, but players earned $2.1 billion this season and believe they would earn more in later years as revenues rose.
