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.”