This expected lockout comes as the league completes one of its most successful seasons ever, with attendance, broadcast ratings and revenue up virtually across the board. But owners insist that the current labor agreement is no longer financially viable, and they point to player salaries as the main culprit. Commissioner David Stern has said that the league lost as much as $300 million in the 2010-11 season and that 22 of the league's 30 teams were in the red. Owners are now asking for player concessions, including a more equitable divide of income, more rigid rules that will limit the amount that teams can pay players (the often-mentioned "hard cap" on salaries), givebacks in an escrow system that the players have paid into and changes in the length and terms of certain types of player contracts.

Players have publicly challenged the league's claims of dire financial hardship and have remained adamantly opposed to many of the league's proposals. Chief among those is the "hard cap," an idea that the union staunchly rejects, saying it would unfairly restrict player salaries. National Basketball Players Association head Billy Hunter also has called for improving on the plan that moves revenue from the league's richer teams to its more financially challenged ones.