#NBA deal: Players cave

Yahoo's story had few details, but the New York Times makes it more clear. The players union leadership agreed to a new labor deal that is not much better than they rejected a couple of weeks ago, before tentatively deciding to decertify the union. The revenue split is at the 50-50 that "Everybody" knew it would be at.

The other issues, like luxury tax, etc.? Probably, on average, and to the degree we can put percentages on them, settled 75 percent to the owners' good.

One clue to that? This quote:

“We’re really excited,” said Peter Holt, the San Antonio Spurs’ owner and chairman of the league’s labor-relations committee. “We’re excited for the fans. We’re excited to start playing basketball, for players, for everybody involved.”

Holt is a harder-line owner, if not a "nuclear" one, so if he is that fired-up, this is probably an "owners' deal."

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has more. Contract lengths and other things all reportedly settled pretty much the way the owners wanted, with the exception of extend-and-trade contracts.

And, there is a one-per-team "amnesty clause." So, there will be no presidential pardon for 30 NBA turkeys to get axed. Who gets it on each team?

Now, who benefits as far as teams? I'll agree with other speculators that Holt's Spurs and the Boston Celtics, with older line-ups, benefit from a shorter schedule. Losers? Miami, with less time to work through the kinks of how it fell short last year, and the Lakers, with a new coach. Oklahoma City probably loses a bit.

And, the game? I predict in-person attendance falls off 5 percent on a per-game average.