NBA Lockouts : A Look at all Labor Disputes in NBA History
Labor disputes and work stoppages were never been a part of the NBA culture before 1995. Infact, once NBA was the only major sports league in United States that had never been interrupted and lost games because of the labor issues. It was the 1998-99 season, when for the first time NBA had to cut down a season due to a work stoppage. Lets, take a look back at all the labor disputes and lockouts in NBA history.
1995 Labor Dispute
National Basketball Association faced the first labor dispute on July 1, 1995. It went through September 12 until the issue got resolved and an agreement was made between the owners and the players. As the issue cleared up before the start of the season, a full season was kept intact and no game was erased.
1996 Work Stoppage
In 1996, again a work stoppage happened but this time around for a brief while as the things got back to the normal within three hours. On that occasion, again the problem was cropped up in the off-season, so no games were lost.
1998-99 Lockout
In 1998-99 season, NBA experienced a serious kind of a work stoppage, a lockout which could wipe out even the whole season. The dispute got started on July 1 over the player’s salary and continued till late of January before owners and players signed a new contract. On January 20, The 204 days long confrontation ended but not without producing serious damage. A total of 464 regular season games were canceled and a revised 50 game season was commenced on February 5, 1999.
2011 lockout
NBA encountered the longest work stoppage most recently on July 1, 2011 when owners and players disagreed on the split of revenue and the salary cap structure. Meetings were held constantly between both the sides but every time negotiations broke off without any settlement. As a result preseason and first six weeks of the regular season were called off and there was a threat that more games could be cancelled if there is no deal sooner but before the situation got worst, a tentative agreement was made on November 26, restricting the regular season to 66 games per side and starting on 25 December with 5 games scheduled on opening day. The lockout officially ended on December 8 when owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement.
Related posts
- List of Brothers who have Played in NBA
- NBA All-Star Game
- NBA: Free Throw Records
- NBA: All-Time Leaders in Minutes Played
- Top 7 Triple-Double Leaders in NBA History
- List of NBA Games that went into Multiple Overtime Periods
- NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award Winners
- Players who have played most NBA All-Star Games
- NBA Steals Leaders, Year by Year
- List of NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award Winners
Comments are closed.