NBA Players Make Statement With ‘STAND’ T-Shirts at CBA Talks, Show Union Solidarity

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Jun 24, 2011

A mere week separates the NBA from lockout, and the players have made it clear that they will not give up their position without a fight.

At a meeting in New York on Friday to discuss the league's collective bargaining agreement, a group of NBA players — almost 50 of them — arrived wearing matching T-shirts with the word "STAND" on the front, a display of the strength of the players' union.

"The message is just solidarity," union director Billy Hunter said of the display, according to ESPN.com. "We have to stand together, be unified and address whatever the circumstance is — and address it together."

The current CBA expires on June 30, meaning that if a new deal is not reached by that date, the NBA would become the second American professional sport to experience a lockout in 2011. The NFL lockout has still not been resolved after more than 100 days of negotiation.

At the center of the debate is the issue of player salaries, which the league desperately wants to reduce. In the most recent proposals discussed at Friday's meeting, the players union offered a $100 million decrease in salary per year over five years, while the owners countered with a 10-year plan that would decrease total player salary from $2.17 billion to $2 billion.

NFL fans may remember a similar sign of solidarity by its players leading up to the current lockout, when every player from the Saints and Vikings walked onto the field and raised one finger in the air before their season-opening matchup on Sept. 9, sending the message that the union would stand as one.

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