NBA Players Reject Latest Labor Deal From Owners

NBA player representatives announced Tuesday they would not accept the latest labor proposal handed down by the league's owners.

As many as 40 players met in New York Tuesday to discuss the latest offer, which commissioner David Stern said would be off the table by 5:00pm ET Wednesday.

"Our orders are clear, the current offer that is on the table is not one we are able to accept," union president Derek Fisher said.Fisher and National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter expressed the players' wishes to continue the negotiation process.

"We're open-minded about potential compromises on our BRI (basketball-related income) number, but there are things in the system that we have to have."

Hunter said he would contact Stern Tuesday evening in the hopes of setting up a new bargaining session as early as Wednesday. Hunter said he does not believe the owners' latest offer will be taken off the table Wednesday.

Stern announced Sunday the players' association had until Wednesday to accept a hybrid offer on six key issues in the collective bargaining agreement, or the league will pull it off the table, the New York Post reported.

Stern said the NBA's proposal was based on a series of recommendations by federal mediator George Cohen, and that the key element to the new proposal was a BRI split that gives the players a 49-51 percent split of the revenue pending the success of league profits.

The other key element the union was opposed to, according to Stern, is taking away the ability for luxury tax payers to execute sign-and-trades and free agency, according to the Post.

But Hunter said Tuesday the NBA had misinformed the public on details of the latest offer.