LeBron Gets It…Again?

December 21, 2011  ·  11.20AM

by Zettler Clay

There seems to be no end in sight for the LeBron James backlash. The latest bit of evidence is a new provision in the newly-signed labor agreement. From the Sports Business Journal:

NBA players are now prohibited from holding an ownership stake in a player-management firm or from acting as National Basketball Players Association-certified agents under a provision in the league’s new collective-bargaining agreement.
The provision was something NBA owners asked for and players agreed to as one of the so-called B-list items, terms that were collectively bargained after the NBPA re-formed as a union, according to a union source.”

Now far be it from us to begrudge LBJ backlash, as we’ve created a special category to chronicle such matters. But to undercut the man’s cashflow on ventures outside of basketball? As Royce Young from CBSSports.com reports though, this ruling may or may not have an effect on LeBron’s recently-formed company, LRMR, as it is not technically a player agency.
Either way, this stipulation in the CBA seems a bit…strategic. Maybe the lockout was more about The Decision than anything else. And if it’s true that a one hour television special threatened to cost us a season, then my animus against the terms “taking my talents” and “not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4…” just took a heap of gasoline.
H/T CBSSports.com
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