NBA players reject offer, season in jeopardy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBA players rejected the league's latest contract offer on Monday and will disband as a union, a move that could wipe out the entire NBA season with the sides taking their labor dispute into the court of law.

The NBPA said it would no longer continue in collective bargaining and would dissolve the union to become a trade association in order to pursue legal action against the NBA, with the entire 2011-12 season hanging in the balance.

"We have arrived at the conclusion that the collective bargaining process has completely broken down," NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said at a news conference in New York.

"As a result, within the last hour we served a notice of disclaimer on Commissioner (David) Stern and the NBA."

A shift from the negotiating room to the courts also came during this year's National Football League labor dispute, but NFL owners and players were able to reach an agreement before their season began and did not lose any regular season games.

"I would say that by this irresponsible action at this late date, Billy Hunter has decided to put the season in jeopardy," Stern told ESPN.

The NBA, which claims it lost $300 million last season with 22 of its 30 teams in the red, locked out players on July 1.

The latest offer by the NBA called for a 50-50 split of basketball related income between the owners and players and would have provided for a 72-game season to start on December 15.

Players, who received 57 percent of basketball income in the previous contract, also are at odds with the owners over rules governing contracts and free agency.

"We will allow our legal team to really lead the charge and hopefully at some point assist us in getting a deal done that is fair to our entire body," NBPA president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers said.

Stern, who already canceled the first month of a regular season that was scheduled to begin two weeks ago, said the NBA was prepared for the union's latest move.

"In anticipation of this day, the NBA filed an unfair labor practice charge before the National Labor Relations Board asserting that, by virtue of its continued threats, the union was not bargaining in good faith," Stern said in a statement.

"We also began a litigation in federal court in anticipation of this same bargaining tactic."

The last abbreviated NBA season came in 1998-99 after stalled labor talks. The schedule was shortened from 82 games to 50 and the All-Star Game was canceled.

That year, Stern said he would recommend scrubbing the season if there was no deal by January 7. The day before that deadline, Hunter and Stern agreed to terms of a deal, and the season began in early February.

"We have negotiated in good faith for over two years and we've done everything anybody could reasonably expect of us particularly when you look at the number of give-backs and concessions," said Hunter.

"But the players just felt that they have given enough, that the NBA was not willing or prepared to continue to negotiate. Things were not going to get better and they were going to continue to reach and grab."

Stern had told the players that if they did not accept the latest owners' proposal, that their next offer would be rolled back to 47 percent of the pie for the players.

"There were some owners, not the majority, who felt our offer had gone too are in favor of the players," Stern said. "But I was confident I could use my powers of persuasion to navigate through to an approval if the union said yes.

"But that's really academic now, because it looks like the 2011-12 NBA season is really in jeopardy."

The 450 players of the league are set to begin missing paychecks for this season with no end to the dispute in sight.

(Reporting by Larry Fine; Editing by Frank Pingue)