By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Managing Editor
MIDTOWN — The only place Knicks fans will get to see Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony play for the foreseeable future is in video games.
That's because an NBA lockout is expected after contract talks between the league and the players union broke down Thursday. The negotiations, in Midtown, were ongoing, but both sides were still far away from hammering out a new deal.
The current contract expires at midnight Thursday.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said it was "with some sadness" that he recommended the lockout. Not only will the decision impact players, but but it would also hurt team staff and workers at the league's arenas. Still, he said, "we didn't see any other option" but to institute a lockout.
During the lockout, players and teams can have no contact with each other. That means Anthony will have to find somewhere else to rehab his injured elbow other than the Knicks' Westchester Country training facility, the New York Post reported.
Also, payroll and health care benefits will be suspended, and all other league activity will stop, the New York Times reported.
Both sides have been negotiating for the past 18 months, but have made little progress toward an agreement.
It's unclear how long the lockout would last. The last time the NBA had a lockout, in 1998, it took six months for both sides to reach an agreement, the Times reported. It was also the last season the Knicks made the NBA finals.
The league says it loses $300 million annually, and owners want a hard salary cap, shorter contracts and a 38 percent cut for players to help stop the bleeding. They also want to split revenues with the players 50-50, the Times said.
The players have proposed cutting their salaries by a total of $100 million and reducing their share of revenues to 54 percent from 57 percent, according to the Times.
