After a collective bargaining session ended Thursday without a written proposal changing hands, the head of the NBA players' union said he remains unconvinced of the need to raise the minimum age.
Union director Billy Hunter made his comments in an interview with The Associated Press following a small meeting at league headquarters at which union attorneys verbally outlined the players' new proposal. Hunter did not attend.

Hunter would not say whether an age limit was brought up, but he again said he'd only yield ground on the issue if the union receives something substantial in return.

"I'm flexible on anything if it makes economic sense and improves the overall conditions for my constituents," Hunter said, adding that he believes a majority of current players are opposed to raising the minimum age.

Commissioner David Stern wants to raise the minimum age to 20. Currently, it is 18 for foreign-born players and 17 or 18 for Americans In order to be eligible for the draft, a U.S. player's high school class must have graduated.

"I'm still strongly philosophically opposed to it, and I can't understand why people think one is needed except for the fact that the NBA is viewed as a predominantly black sport," Hunter said. "You don't see that outcry in other sports, and the arguments that have been in support of an age limit have been defeated."

The current labor agreement expires June 30, and the sides have been meeting regularly for the past 2 months negotiating a new deal.

Another bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday in New York, with several owners and players expected to attend.

"The negotiations are friendly. We know what the issues are. We just haven't been able to make the trades, I think, that are necessary to make a final deal," Stern said in Seattle prior to Game 3 of the Spurs-SuperSonics series. "We've been trading proposals. It's just that the proposals aren't closing any gaps."

"I'm downgrading my 'optimistic' to only 'hopeful,'" Stern said.

Neither side has been forthcoming with details of what has been proposed, though the most important issues are known to include the maximum length of player contracts, the size of annual percentage increases in multiyear contracts, and the so-called "trigger" percentages - relating to revenue percentages devoted to player salaries - that activate the luxury tax on the highest-spending owners and the escrow tax under which 10% of players' salaries are withheld.

Hunter

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about NBA age limit issue?
We want to hear your view. Write now!