NBA season-ticket holders will receive refunds plus interest if games are canceled because of a labor dispute next season.

The NBA will also pay interest on what could amount to loans to franchises from fans.

Teams can also offer their own options, such as leaving deposits on account in exchange for future tickets.

The Miami Heat offered season-ticket holders an option to receive discounted 2011 playoff tickets and a 5 percent payment in exchange for keeping renewal deposits in a Heat account rather than seeking a refund should there be a work stoppage.

The National Basketball Players Association feels that only a "small number" of NBA teams are losing money and they will continue their position of being unwilling to put a hard salary cap on the table.

The NBA contends half of its teams are losing money, a rate of more than $300 million per year.

"Our belief," Billy Hunter said, "is that a small number of teams are suffering, and their problems can be addressed through revenue sharing."

Hunter says a hard cap would effectively end guaranteed contracts which he calls "the lifeblood" of professional basketball. "We've had that right for years, and it's not something we're trying to give up."

Hunter added: "If you get a hard cap, owners get a guaranteed profit. And you get franchise values that go through the roof. That's what you get."

Hunter was asked why the owners would threaten a lockout if they were currently profitable.

"Because they want to make more money. The whole idea is to increase the value of the franchises."

NBPA executive director Billy Hunter relayed a story from his boyhood to commissioner David Stern to describe the type of labor battle they are engaged in.

“I don’t know where you were raised, but I lived with rats," said Hunter to Stern. "I used to kill rats. We had a .22 rifle and we would lay in the kitchen and shoot them on the floor. One thing my grandmother taught me was that if you got a rat trapped, you’ve got to give his ass a way out, because he will fight you if he has to.

“If you don’t give us a way out, a chance for a compromise, you’re going to get a fight.”

During All-Star Weekend last month, NBPA executive director Billy Hunter and commissioner David Stern addressed the players as they do every year.

But this time Hunter painted a more negative picture, explaining how he couldn't tell the players that everything is currently well in the NBA. He also referenced how Oscar Robertson and Jerry West staged a protest at the 1964 All-Star Game. Hunter insisted the players had an obligation to participate in the game, but his speech made it clear that he wouldn't back down to Stern.

When Hunter was finished and handed the microphone to Stern, the commissioner began to list his resume and his anger was visible.

Stern then announced he knows where "the bodies are buried" in the NBA, according to witnesses.

“It was shocking,” said Derrick Rose. “I was taking off my gear, and when he said that, I just stopped and thought, ‘Whoa …’

“I couldn’t believe that he said it.”

Said another All-Star in the room, “I was shocked … just shocked.”

The moment turned into a galvanizing one for Hunter.

It was “probably the best Billy has been around us,” one veteran Eastern Conference All-Star said.

Friday the NFL Players' Association decided to file for decertification and sue the NFL in court for violating antitrust law. The league then locked out the players Friday evening, shutting things down for the foreseeable future. And the effect of these actions were felt throughout the NBA, whose date with a work stoppage draws closer.

"Those (NFL) owners are pushing with the money they're making," said a source involved in the NBA discussions over the weekend. "I think our guys will do the same. Maybe there will be some decisions made in this court that will harder or soften one side one way or the other."

As each day passes, hopes that NBA can avoid its own work stoppage continue to dwindle, although both commissioner David Stern and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said during the All-Star break that the rhetoric during their meetings with one another was much less heated than in previous sessions. But the reality is that owners want a new system, and the things they're asking for continue to be non-starters with the players.

Union representatives held a meeting on February 19th with associates of some of the NBA's most prominent players. The group was comprised of friends, brothers and cousins and the union attempted to make sure they were aware of the details of labor negotiations.

The associates were handpicked by the players to attend and at least one prominent agent was upset with idea that they were involved and legitimized as having a voice in the process.

The following people were in attendance.

• Kevin Samples, cousin to Orlando’s Dwight Howard
• Maverick Carter, associate of Miami’s LeBron James
• C.J. Paul, brother to New Orleans’ Chris Paul
• Matt Rosenberg , associate of Chicago’s Joakim Noah
• Tony Durant, brother to Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant
• Reggie Rose, brother to Chicago’s Derrick Rose
• Lorne Clark, associate of the Clippers’ Blake Griffin

The NBAPA has issued an instruction book to its players to help prepare for a lockout. The motto on its cover is 'Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.'

The 56-page handbook was distributed at team meetings between November and February, according to union spokesman Dan Wasserman.

“There’s no magic pill,” Wasserman said. “As long as they’re thinking about what they’re spending, it’s a step in the right direction.”

The players union of the NFL issued a similar handbook.

The NBAPA handbook offers tips on how to handle mortgages and rents and suggests not to purchase new cars, clothing and jewelry. It even offers advice on communicating with wives, children, agents and entourages.

Billy Hunter, the union’s executive director, warns in the handbook that “a lockout is VERY likely.”

“The revenue increases and unprecedented growth the league is experiencing has done nothing to assuage ownership’s demand that we drastically reduce player salaries and benefits,” Hunter says in the guide. “Commissioner (David) Stern and the owners have given us but one option and that is to fight for a fair deal.”

Also included is a timeline of potential key dates from July 2010 to July 2012. Under Jan. 7, 2012, it says: “Season canceled. Approximate deadline for league and owners canceling 2011-12 season. NBA becomes only second North American professional sports league to have its entire season canceled due to labor struggle.”

David Falk, perhaps the most notable agent in all of professional sports, sat down for an interview with Sole Collector recently.

Falk touched on a number of topics, but his comments about the NBA's expiring collective bargaining agreement were most notable.

"I don't think the [salary] cap is going to be lower. I think they’ll lower the percentage of revenues at the end of the day," he said. "But I don't think they'll ever lower the cap."

As the NBA's superstars continue to talk about playing together while Boston and Miami enjoy success with their own versions of The Big Three, Jazz owner Greg Miller understands the league's latest trend.

Utah traded All-Star Deron Williams to New Jersey last week, in part because they didn't feel he would stick around in free agency.

"If I put myself in the [players'] shoes and look at it, what I see is there is a fairly short window of opportunity to earn as much money as I can to the benefit of my family, me and so on," Miller said. "I respect their right to do that. And my sense was – and this is just my sense, it's not anything I read or anything Deron said to me – Deron probably felt like he could attain those objectives in bigger markets. If that's how he felt, I don’t want to hold him against his will. I don’t want him to be unhappy while he is here.

"We all want to become all we can be to our full potential. If our franchise could offer Deron the things to help him feel that way, I think it's probably best he goes somewhere where he can get those things."

NBA commissioner David Stern says the goal of talks on a new collective bargaining agreement will be parity.

"Our goal in these negotiations is to come up with a system where all 30 teams over a period of time have the ability to compete," Stern said. "What you’ll also see is that teams that have been competing the hardest in terms of moving along in the playoffs are tax players. And we don’t think that your ability to pay taxes to have a roster should be part of a competitive landscape."