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The NBA formally notified teams Tuesday that it has canceled games through Dec. 15, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.
The news comes one day after the the players' union rejected the owners' latest offer and announced its intention to disband and file an antitrust lawsuit against the league.
NBA players' association executive director Billy Hunter said the suit will be filed Tuesday night in the Northern District of California.
David Boies, an attorney for the players, says they've brought this case to restore competitive free-market conditions.
He says the players will not seek a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout. Boies says that because the lockout "arguably grew out of prior collective bargaining discussions" that it would be very difficult to get a preliminary injunction and could delay the case.
Boies says it is in "everybody's interests to resolve this quickly," adding the longer it goes on, the greater the damages for teams and players.
Team union representatives voted unanimously Monday to file a "disclaimer of interest" that will dissolve the players' union.
Executive director Billy Hunter and union president Derek Fisher announced that with negotiations between the sides at a stalemate, they planned to file an antitrust lawsuit within 48 hours. The suit will seek a summary judgment that deems the NBA shutdown which began July 1 to be illegal.
Hunter then acknowledged in an interview with NBA TV on Monday that, even though the NBPA pushed for disclaiming its status as the players' collective bargaining representative over decertification to get into a courtroom faster, there is a "high probability" that the entire 2011-12 season will be lost because of the lengthy nature of court proceedings.
Said commissioner David Stern in a subsequent interview on ESPN: "The union decided in its infinite wisdom that the proposal would not be presented to membership [for a vote]." Referring to union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, Stern added ominously: "Obviously Mr. Kessler got his way and we are about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA."
"If I were a player," Stern continued, "I would be wondering what it is that Billy Hunter just did."
The proposal rejected by the players called for a 50-50 split of annual revenue and a 72-game season starting Dec. 15. But the sides continued to disagree about the various "system" issues that put restraints on teams that stray into luxury-tax territory which, according to the union, will severely hamper free agency and restrict overall player movement.
The NBA's only previous work stoppage to bleed into the regular season reduced the 1998-99 season to 50 games.
Tuesday, the 138th day of the lockout, was the day players were to have received their first paychecks of the 2011-12 season. According to CNBC, the average NBA player lost $220,000 as a result of the stalemate with the owners.
Source: AP
The news comes one day after the the players' union rejected the owners' latest offer and announced its intention to disband and file an antitrust lawsuit against the league.
NBA players' association executive director Billy Hunter said the suit will be filed Tuesday night in the Northern District of California.
David Boies, an attorney for the players, says they've brought this case to restore competitive free-market conditions.
He says the players will not seek a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout. Boies says that because the lockout "arguably grew out of prior collective bargaining discussions" that it would be very difficult to get a preliminary injunction and could delay the case.
Boies says it is in "everybody's interests to resolve this quickly," adding the longer it goes on, the greater the damages for teams and players.
Team union representatives voted unanimously Monday to file a "disclaimer of interest" that will dissolve the players' union.
Executive director Billy Hunter and union president Derek Fisher announced that with negotiations between the sides at a stalemate, they planned to file an antitrust lawsuit within 48 hours. The suit will seek a summary judgment that deems the NBA shutdown which began July 1 to be illegal.
Hunter then acknowledged in an interview with NBA TV on Monday that, even though the NBPA pushed for disclaiming its status as the players' collective bargaining representative over decertification to get into a courtroom faster, there is a "high probability" that the entire 2011-12 season will be lost because of the lengthy nature of court proceedings.
Said commissioner David Stern in a subsequent interview on ESPN: "The union decided in its infinite wisdom that the proposal would not be presented to membership [for a vote]." Referring to union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, Stern added ominously: "Obviously Mr. Kessler got his way and we are about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA."
"If I were a player," Stern continued, "I would be wondering what it is that Billy Hunter just did."
The proposal rejected by the players called for a 50-50 split of annual revenue and a 72-game season starting Dec. 15. But the sides continued to disagree about the various "system" issues that put restraints on teams that stray into luxury-tax territory which, according to the union, will severely hamper free agency and restrict overall player movement.
The NBA's only previous work stoppage to bleed into the regular season reduced the 1998-99 season to 50 games.
Tuesday, the 138th day of the lockout, was the day players were to have received their first paychecks of the 2011-12 season. According to CNBC, the average NBA player lost $220,000 as a result of the stalemate with the owners.
Source: AP