Boston Celtics: 3 potential side effects of game-five boycotts

Potential boycott side-effect No. 2) NBA lockout

We’ve seen it before, and we can see it again. Four-times in league history we have seen the NBA go through what is referred to as a “lockout”, most recently during the 2011-12 season in which it managed to last for a total of eight-months and, thus, shortening the season to just 66 games.

Lockouts are generally caused by a discrepancy in how finances should be handled between the league’s team owners and players.

With the COVID-19 induced hiatus that took away more than four months worth of games from the 2019-20 regular season (March 12th – July 30th), there was already concern over how the league’s salary cap would be effected once this year’s campaign climaxes and heads into 2020-21.

Should the rest of the season be canceled, the league’s finances would take an even greater hit which, without a doubt, will stir up controversy moving forward between both the NBA and the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association).

Having no fans in the crowd already had a negative impact on the league’s salary-cap situation. That said, luckily they were still managing to make some profits from television deals.

No more games, however, would indefinitely sink the league’s finances into uncharted territory which very easily could trigger the NBA’s fifth lockout.