Winners and losers of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement

Though there are still plenty of details to work out, the dust is beginning to settle on the tentative agreement that the NBA?s players and owners announced early Saturday morning. The big-picture tally is clear: The owners won, the players lost. But there are more specific winners and losers in this:

Winners

David Stern. It hasn?t been a great few months for Stern. He did not have the same grip over his owners that he has had in the past, he certainly didn?t come off well publicly, and he has now overseen three lockouts in his last four collective-bargaining negotiations. But make no mistake, Stern got his owners 75-80 percent of what they were looking for in this deal, and if he had to take some public battering to do so, well, that?s part of the job.

Sen. Herb Kohl. Hardline small-market owners were the big winners here, even if they did not get everything they sought. The problem for most of them was that they frequently came off like dolts. There was the Paul Allen ?hijacking? of one meeting, there was Dan Gilbert telling Billy Hunter to ?trust his gut,? and there was much public discussion about the hypocrisy of Michael Jordan?s hardline position. But Kohl is one of the few who did what an owner should do in these situations?he stayed in the shadows, laid out what changes he hoped to see and let Stern do his work. This deal will benefit teams like Kohl?s Bucks, and it will help that Kohl didn?t drag down his team?s reputation by acting foolish.

Rashard Lewis and the Wizards. There will be an amnesty clause in the new deal that will allow teams to waive a player without his contract counting against the luxury tax. It won?t take Washington long to dump Lewis and get out of the remaining two years and $46 million on his contract. But Lewis has to be counted as a winner, too, because he will still collect that money and may have the opportunity to sign with a better team than the rebuilding Wizards.

Pacers. They?re a young team with lots of cap space, and the new salary rules will make it very difficult for teams near the luxury tax threshold to keep their own free agents. This CBA was designed to help teams like Indiana bring in top players, and the Pacers should reap the benefits immediately.

Dwight Howard. No franchise tag, no limitations on extend-and-trade deals, no limitations on sign-and-trades for the first two years of this CBA. That means Howard will have every opportunity to be this year?s Carmelo Anthony, able to sign on to stay in Orlando or leverage his way to a bigger market.

Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond. The NBA did ask for a new 20-year-old age limit, but that has been tabled, and whatever changes the league makes in its draft entry rules, it won?t affect this season. That means super-freshmen like Davis and Drummond will be on the board.

Losers

Billy Hunter. Hunter was predestined to lose in this battle. It wasn?t necessarily his fault?the worldwide economic crisis hit just as the last CBA was running up, giving the owners plenty of ammunition for demanding drastic change?but Hunter didn?t manage his side of the negotiations very well. Players were more prepared than during the 1998-99 lockout, but they still seemed disconnected and rudderless at times, and, in the end, they gave up an awful lot.

Tyson Chandler. Chandler will be the most prominent free agent in this year?s class, and in a normal year, he would be a no-brainer to re-sign in Dallas. But Chandler himself admitted that the new, tougher rules governing the luxury tax mean that the Mavs will probably have to let him walk. He could go from the world champs to Minnesota in the space of six months.

Hornets. Chris Paul?s future is as much in play as Dwight Howard?s, and though Paul tends to get less of the spotlight, New Orleans will have to figure out what the future holds for its star point guard. And the Hornets will have to do so without an owner in place and with Paul?s good friend David West probably lost to free agency.

Agents. Hunter comes out of this thing looking bad, but he is at least still head of the union. That was something that several agents hoped to change during this process. Not only is Hunter still in place, but he outflanked the league?s top agents every time they posed a threat. And, in the end, dropping player BRI from 57 percent to 49-51 percent is going to cost agents on those contract fees.

Michael Jordan. As noted, Jordan was among the league?s small-market hardline owners, and he became far too public a face for that group. As the guy who, during the last lockout, told Washington owner Abe Pollin that if he couldn?t make a profit, he should sell his team, it struck most as hypocritical for Jordan to now be demanding the players give up hundreds of millions of dollars annually so that he can make money. As a business owner, of course, Jordan has a right to a profit, but because he is so easily identified as a player, he seemed to lose some of his dignity, some of his aura, by taking such a tough public stance.

Sacramento. Remember, the city of Sacramento is facing a March 1 deadline to finalize a plan for a new arena to keep the Kings in town. Historically, any major sports league requires time to build back its fan base in the wake of a labor issue that costs regular-season games. The Kings are running out of time, though, and with lingering lockout bitterness in place, getting an arena deal is a tall task.

Source: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2011-11-27/winners-and-losers-of-the-nbas-collective-bargaining-agreement

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