my question is this... if there's no season, does that mean players on contract have those years count toward their deals? basically, if there's no season, then next year, does Nash become a FA or does he still have one year left on his deal like he has now?
Good question cheese. I wonder how the contracts are worded ie;
"The player agrees to terms for the years 2002-2008" Strike year would count.
or
"The player agrees to 5 year terms beginning in the 2002 season." Strike year wouldn't count cuz the league year never happened?
I agree the wording is key. It is interesting to note the players are not on "strike." My thoughts, if I were the players, I would not decertify the union and take the owners to court. The owners have locked them out and they are entitled to their salary.
I think the key is that every player contract has been negotiated and signed under the terms of the current CBA which has already expired. I believe that without a valid CBA between the players union and the NBA these existing contracts are essentially voided until a new CBA is negotiated. This is why there was speculation that the owners might want to scale the existing contracts back as part of the new CBA, although that won't happen. This is also why the NBA would be able to permanently void all the player contracts should the union decertify.
To answer the original question, I think the wording itself is not that important, because the players and owners can agree on how to resolve this issue as part on the next CBA when it is eventually reached. My guess is that all contracts would end when they were originally scheduled to end.