I've been a big proponent of player empowerment since I started watching basketball religiously in early 2000s. However, I believe the pendulum has swung too far and needs to be reigned in a bit.

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It's not a matter of siding with billionaires over millionaires, it's a matter of what's good for the sport. All these negotiations seem to focus on just the money when in reality the money is great for the players and owners, but does little for the fans. You know, the fans, the people who pay all the money to the billionaires and millionaires? They're the ones getting screwed.

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Players being able to sit out 20+ games a year for load management. Players kicking fans out of stadiums because their feelings got hurt. Players forcing trades and destroying franchises after signing a 5 year contract and collecting their signing bonus. Defense practically being outlawed in the league in favor of players being able to drop 60+ points on a weekly basis. Technical fouls and touchy fouls being called that ruin the most exciting moments of the game. THESE are the real issues killing the sport, and all anyone cares about is their favorite millionaire making a $500k bonus instead of a $1M bonus for one additional game.

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I find myself tuning out of the league and focusing more on other sports now more than ever. This is INSANE to me because I used to watch NBA like it was my job, every-night. I know I'm not alone in my feelings and I hope something gets done to fix the actual product instead of only focusing on the money.... For the record, I understand this is a business and if it was me at the negotiating table I'd probably only care about the money too, but I'm not. I'm just a regular fan who wants someone in a position of power to care about the sport as much as I do.