Bah humbug.
Among all the information thrown out there during the NBA players union press conference rejecting David Stern’s ultimatum offer, there was this little bit from director Billy Hunter:
He has heard the league is going to cancel games through Christmas if there is no deal by 5 p.m. Wednesday (his drop-dead date).
The league denied that is the case.
But it’s getting close to that time. Even if the two sides reached a deal this week it would take about 30 days to ramp up and have regular season games. That already leaves very little margin for error to get a deal done and games on Christmas.
And Christmas is huge — it is a second opening day for the league. It is the first games on national broadcast television. It is when the average NBA fan really starts to pay attention.
Miss Christmas Day and that is a huge black eye for the league.
Not that the hardline owners care.
