A Grain of Saul: NBA negotiations breed selfishness

he NBA is in danger of losing its fans. For good.

Two nights ago, while watching the… The NBA is in danger of losing its fans. For good.

Two nights ago, while watching the SportsCenter highlights of Kevin Durant handing out charitable checks during an exhibition game in Oklahoma City, I turned to my roommate in disgust.

“What a publicity stunt,” I said. “Players just hyping up the fans to get them to turn on the owners so they can get the league going and get paid.”

While these players seem to be hiding behind a facade of good will, I soon realized that their maniacal ways paled in comparison to those of the owners; most of whom are comparable to, I don’t know, Satan?

The negotiations that have gone on between the NBA owners and the league’s players over the last few months have finally reached a pinnacle of greed and selfishness. Not only that, but their transparency in operating with these motivators is nearly unfathomable.

Aside from the incredibly frustrating idea of billionaires and millionaires fighting over money at a time when 9.1 percent of our country is unemployed, the owners haven’t hidden the fact that they have no concern for anyone but themselves.

In case you’re not well versed, here is what’s happening: The NBA generates $4 billion annually. There are 30 owners and 400 players in the league. These 430 people need to decide how to split this $4 billion.

Previously, the players took 57 percent to the owners’ 43. After negotiating the percentages to 53 and 47, respectively — amounts the players thought constituted a win-win — the owners made the absurd request that the two groups split the revenue 50-50 for the new season. And in actuality, it wasn’t much of a request.

On Thursday, Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter said that the owners will not go forward until the 50-50 number is agreed to.

Then, according to SportsIllustrated.com, deputy commissioner Adam Silver made it clear he was negotiating nothing but his own interests. After admitting that he understood they were affecting thousands — if not millions — of people who have jobs related to the NBA, he said the only thing that really mattered — or seemed sincere:

“As much as we would like to find a way for a so-called win-win for both parties — or we win one, and you win one — in terms of the future of this league, we don’t think it makes sense.”

Without even trying to hide it, he actually told a room full of media that his negotiations were not striving for a “win-win.”

Maybe Silver doesn’t know what the word negotiation means. Maybe he doesn’t know what negotiations are supposed to achieve. Maybe he doesn’t care.

Regardless, while Silver and the other incredibly rich owners of the NBA try to squeeze every penny out of the athletes that make them their money, both parties seem to have lost perspective on where they stand in the grand scheme of things.

Unlike those 430 individuals, the janitorial staff, the cameramen, the light guys, the talking heads, the people working the concessions stands, the commentators and even the towns like Oklahoma City will experience horrible financial suffering in an already unfavorable economic climate. For these folks, losing half of the NBA season would be simply devastating.

This suffering, of course, will come while the owners and players sort their millions.

Some have compared the fans and low-level employees of the NBA to the Occupy Wall Street protestors. While the protestors have a bit more serious things to worry about (this greed executed on a national and global stage), the similarities are there.

The idea of the players — as in the people who are actually playing — splitting the money evenly with the owners — as in the guys who sit in the press box — is definitely unfair. The average salary for an NBA player is $5 million, and with the new proposed 50-50 split, the owners would be taking approximately $66 million each.

So do you think these guys really care if half the season goes to waste? Does it matter to them if they need to wait three or four months to sort their contracts out? No, it doesn’t.

Because rich people like being rich. Eventually the owners and players will settle, and they’ll settle right back into the top 2 percent of all money makers in our country.

When LeBron James left Cleveland, restaurant and bar owners complained his absence was ruining their businesses. Imagine if the NBA left all 30 cities it occupies.

Still, over the last few months, stars such as James, Durant, Chris Paul and others have participated in exhibition games that they aren’t being paid for. In a season during which they might not have a place to play or might have to find work overseas, they are putting on the line the one thing that is sacred to them above all else: their bodies.

I respect that, and actions like those make me want to root for them, but I still have trouble believing all the charity is anything short of a ploy to help the players get their payday.

Even more frustrating is that these charity games are more entertaining than the NBA games those owners produce.

Just last night, a star-studded exhibition game featured Durant, James, Paul, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Michael Beasley and Carmelo Anthony.

In the game, Durant’s team came away with a 176-171 victory. Yup, you read that right: a combined 347 points in a game that went into overtime.

Durant scored 42 points and had 26 rebounds and 11 assists. Included in those 42 points was a dunk he caught in mid-air from a Chris Paul bounce pass that looked like it was part of a full-speed dunk contest.

At one point, James threw the ball off the backboard on a drive, caught it, then slammed it home. Now that’s basketball.

While I appreciate the players’ reminding us why we worship them, I think the players and owners might need a reminder of their own:

You can’t exist without us. If we lose our respect for you, you will lose your money. If you lose sight of the man who mops the court for you, then you might lose the chance to play on that court.

Maybe at the next sit-down between players and owners, somebody should suggest lower ticket prices, lower salaries and spending cuts to bring these guys back down to earth and give the fans some basketball. That would be the day.