Sam Kaplan

Staff Writer

After 149 long, painful and frustrating days, the NBA owners and Players Association finally came to an agreement on a tentative deal, ending the lockout.

“We have reached a tentative understanding,” commissioner David Stern said on November 26.

One of the main reasons that kept the two sides apart for so long was because of the fight over all basketball related income (also referred to as BRI). Initially, the players received 57 percent of BRI, but the owners fought hard to decrease that amount. After nearly canceling the entire NBA season over the dispute, the sides came together and agreed that 51.15 percent of BRI would go to the players. Although this greatly benefited the owners, the players desperately wanted to avoid a lost season and agreed to take the deal.

In addition, players will lose approximately 20 percent of their 2011-12 salaries — a result of the games missed due to the lockout.

The NBA will play a 66-game schedule this year, which is much more than many people anticipated. Interest had started to wane after the lockout prolonged for such a long time.

The season will tip off on Christmas Day, with four exciting games, including a rematch of last year’s Dallas-Miami finals. The Heat will have to watch the Mavericks raise their championship banner before the start of the game.

With the lockout finally having come to an end, Milken students are getting excited about watching their favorite teams return to the court, and are anxiously anticipating Christmas Day.

Read JJ Friedman’s Viral sound off on the NBA season here.

Featured image courtesy of the-sport-report.com.