So what are the players going to do when the lockout starts to stretch into the regular season?
(And it may well. Remember, the players don’t see their first paycheck until Nov. 15, so if the owners want the players to feel the pressure of not getting paid — and some do — we are in for a long wait.)
How about some charity exhibition games? Union president Derek Fisher told Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com that is being considered.“I’d say it’s possible right now,” the Lakers guard said after Wednesday night’s game at Oracle Arena. “We’re so focused on trying not to be in that situation, so it’s tough to go into full-scale planning on those types of situations. But at the same time, we have a responsibility as a union and as an association to really keep options that are viable open for our guys.
“There’s so many challenges logistically, in terms of where you play, having the arenas, having officials, security – all the things that a lot of times we don’t have to deal with because the league is doing those things. But we looked into it before, we’ve looked into it a little bit now. Until we see that it’s something that we’re really going to have to look forward to doing, right now, it’s still just kind of floating out there.”
There are a lot of challenges. Starting with finding quality arenas in major cities not run in some fashion by NBA owners so you have a place to play. Staples Center in Los Angeles — out. Madison Square Garden? Out. You get the idea.
I don’t even want to think about this. I want to be positive that cooler heads will prevail in the late summer and the two sides will reach a deal and games will go on as scheduled in October. I’d also like to believe that those petite giraffes from the DirecTV commercials really exist and you can buy one. I fear they both are about equally realistic at this point.
