The NBA was scheduled to play on Christmas Day but the games were canceled due to an ongoing labor dispute.
Christmas Day has come and gone, but it was a day of no NBA action. The league is currently in the midst of a labor dispute, meaning that games were canceled on December 25th. This means that no one got to see LeBron James play for the Lakers, or Russell Westbrook for the Thunder. However, this wasn’t always going to be the case. Before things went sour between players and owners, there were plans for three games on Christmas Day.
Why is there no NBA action today?
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is currently in a labor dispute with its players union over how revenue from TV deals and merchandise sales are split between them. The league had previously announced that it would be playing on Christmas Day, which it has done since 1983.
The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired at midnight on December 15th. Negotiations began almost immediately after this deadline passed but were unsuccessful in resolving all of the issues in time for opening night.
After two days of negotiations over how revenue from TV deals and merchandise sales are split between players and owners failed to resolve all issues, Commissioner Adam Silver said that he would cancel opening night if a deal wasn’t reached by December 25th.
After meeting with team owners at an emergency board meeting on December 24th, Silver announced that all games scheduled for Christmas Day would be canceled as well as all games through January 14th.
