NBA Referee's Locked Out

First an NBA referee gets locked up (Tim Donaghy), now the NBA has officially notified the National Basketball Referees Association that they have locked out the referees.

National Basketball Referees Association executive director Lamell McMorris broke the bad news on Friday, “We have just been officially locked out by the NBA," McMorris said. He added that he just received an official letter from the NBA "locking out the referees."

The NBA moved ahead with plans to train replacement referees on Friday after the NBRA rejected its final contract offer.

"The proposals we have made to the NBRA are extraordinarily fair and reasonable, given the current economic circumstances," said Rick Buchanan, the NBA's executive vice president in a statement on the league's website.

"It is extremely disappointing that the NBRA has ignored the economic realities, rejected our offer, and left us with no choice but to begin using replacement referees."

The NBA said its offer would have maintained current salary levels and modestly reduced the NBA's referee costs through changes to benefits and travel policies.

Entry level referees earn almost $150,000 per year while senior referees' salaries top $550,000.

Unless a new collective bargaining agreement can be reached extremely soon, the NBA will start pre-season using Development League and WNBA officials.

The referees were scheduled to report to training camp on Sunday, but McMorris said there is not enough time to get a deal done for that deadline to be met.

McMorris said he has not yet made a formal request for the Teamsters or other unions to honor the referees' picket lines. But he added of the Teamsters, "They do not cross picket lines, that does not happen. Without a doubt we will have picket lines if we are locked out. ... I don't think I need to tell the NBA that."