In late June, Shane Battier made news by making NBA Players Association head Billy Hunter and Battier's fellow players uncomfortable after openly wondering if Hunter would show solidarity with his players, and agree to work for $1 over the duration of the lockout -- as NFL union boss DeMaurice Smith had. The question was quickly scuttled. Don't be silly, Shane.
On the other end of the table, though, David Stern is apparently deciding to one-up his counterpart, and work for free during the lockout that he and his owners have initiated. Stern can afford to. He makes more than $20 million a year, and it isn't as if his constituency isn't still getting paid ($900 million in national TV money is rolling in during 2011-12 whether there are games or not). But Stern has a chance to look the part in this instance, and he's pouncing on it.
Stern has given no indication that he will agree to lower his salary when the sides ultimately do hammer out a new labor agreement that is expected to be far more restrictive for players. Yet sources confirmed Tuesday that, during the work stoppage, Stern will indeed pass on collecting a salary that, based on a New York Daily News report in February, has been estimated as high as $23 million annually.
If the report, much less Stern's word, is true ... well, it still means absolutely nothing. Even though the restructuring of a new collective bargaining agreement is badly needed, don't forget that this is a work stoppage the NBA initiated. It's�the one locking out the players, the players are the ones who aren't being paid, and despite Spencer Hawes' pithy comments, Stern's massive salary isn't the problem, nor should it be a point of contention.
What the move will do, after months of losing the public goodwill battle to the players, is carve out a needless and showy win in some sort of inauthentic area that really isn't worth fighting over.
I'd feel a lot better if Stern took those millions and, say, sent a paid NBA employee to the parking lots surrounding 10 different NBA arenas several times a week this fall and winter, and handed out 20 bucks a pop to the people who are also going to be without work this season. Maybe commission a few freelance pieces from out-of-work NBA scribes. Go to a sports bar on a would-be game night and leave a 100 percent tip. Maybe even use the cash to rehire the 114 NBA workers it laid off last month.
If you're going to make a point over window dressing, you might as well do something good with it, right NBA?
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