Anthony Mason remains unemployed and his agent, Dan Cronson, is working to re-write the Collective Bargaining Agreement because of it.

Cronson remains emphatic that Mason will settle for nothing less than a four-year contract at the Mid Level Exception. But the Bucks are reluctant to pay his asking price because of the Luxury Tax.

"You know what? The N.B.A. is the National Beancounters Association," Cronson said. "Or the National Bottom-Line Association."

Cronson is not the only player agent who wonders aloud why the league refers to its over-the-cap signings as "exceptions," when, in fact, they are counted against the luxury tax.

"What's wrong with the midlevel exception ? any exception for that matter ? without the encumbrance of a luxury tax?" he said. "The exception should be the exception. This would not be a huge number and it would help mostly the older veterans, which is what the collective bargaining agreement was supposed to accomplish."