Player reps to meet as deadline nears

As the clock ticks down toward the expiration date on the NBA's latest offer to the players' union in collective bargaining, the union will meet with player representatives from all 30 teams Tuesday in Manhattan.

The details of the NBA's offer of a soft cap and 50-50 revenue split, which was made -- and initially rejected -- in the early-morning hours Sunday, will be presented to the player reps, including the Knicks' Toney Douglas. But it is not expected that the reps will have the opportunity to take the deal. "There will be no vote," union vice president Roger Mason Jr. told Newsday.

But will there be another meeting between the NBA and union before the league's deadline for when the deal is taken off the table "at the close of business" Wednesday? According to multiple reports, the sides will attempt to sit down at least one more time to try to close the gap.

The NBA officially sent the proposal in writing to the union Sunday and included a warning that if the deal is not accepted by Wednesday, the owners' stance will return to what it was in the summer: a hard salary cap and a 53-47 percent split of league revenue in favor of the owners.

That ultimatum has the players strongly considering a move to decertify the union and take on the league in court through antitrust litigation. It is a route the NFLPA took last spring before the NFL locked out the players. Federal judges eventually ruled that the NFL was within its rights to lock out the players.

"The reality is that decertification route, or something like it, was tried by the NFL players, and the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit soundly rejected the attempt," commissioner David Stern said Monday on ESPN. "So I just don't know what they're thinking."

As for the fate of the season, Stern said, "I don't want to say when we would call off the season, because clearly we're not there yet, and I don't want to make an idle threat."