Disappearing Act: Billy Hunter Bets Entire NBA Season Is Out

Well, Billy Hunter just dropped the bomb. Let’s hope it doesn’t detonate. The NBPA’s executive director said he assumes the entire season will be canceled this year because the two sides are an insane $800 million apart. Hunter actually somewhat defended David Stern, saying it’s a new age of owners who have come around in the past six or seven years who are trying to change the ways, and are holding the commish’s feet towards the fire. At least, that’s how Hunter put it. Hunter said if he had to bet, he would guess there would be no ball … Who would this hurt the most? Teams like Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles and maybe even Dallas would come back looking entirely different. Some players around the league would undoubtedly retire. Careers would be cut short. Records would stay safe. Everything would change. Most of all, we would be stuck watching basketball in any way we could rather than with the best players in the world … Speaking of politics, real politics, Stan Van Gundy is thinking about a new gig once all of his coaching is over. While he isn’t sure some of his ideas would fly, he really wants to give it a try. If he ever gets into politics, the dude is gonna complain about EVERYTHING. Every president or governing body is gonna hate him … “I threw one down so hard, it caught the bottom of the net and burned the bottom of the net and then popped back out. And Doug said, ‘Woah, the bottom of the net smoked and the dunk popped back out.'” Um, yeah. Darryl Dawkins was Ochocinco before even Chad Johnson existed and we had him come through with one of our best Q&A’s yet. Not only did he tell a ridiculous story about burning up a net, he also told us Stevie Wonder actually gave him the nickname Chocolate Thunder … So the video of Nick Young‘s 60-point game finally surfaced the other day, and of course people had to hate. Either it’s “Oh those rims look low” or “Oh the competition sucks!” Well we heard people attacking Young saying the video was cool and all but not once throughout the entire thing did he pass the ball. These people realize IT IS a highlight video of his 60-point game right? … Reportedly, Besiktas president Yıldırım Demirören met with Kobe and his agent yesterday afternoon in Los Angeles to apparently talk about coming to terms on an agreement. In other words, expect news to come out tomorrow saying they either haven’t talked in months or that a deal is about a month away … LeBron James knows a little something about haters. He has more of them than probably anyone else alive. And he went off on Tim Tebow’s haters on Twitter, writing: Tim Tebow will succeed in the NFL. He’s a hard worker, a student of the game, a natural born leader and most of all a WINNER! It takes time and he’ll be nice. Then, he went at Merril Hoge for going at Tebow even though it is his job as an analyst to do so. No one is killing Tebow because they don’t like him. They’re just doing their job. And right now, no one is sure what’s gonna happen with Tebow. If you were the Broncos, would you play him? Tebow or Kyle Orton? At this point, we have to go with Orton. He’s been better. No other way around it … And while some top NBA talent took the court at Dyckman Park last night in NYC, it was Michael Beasley who made the biggest move when he “mushed” a fan in the face. The heckler was being a little ruff on him, so Beasley went up and shoved the man in the face while yelling “I get paid to do this.” He wasn’t the only pro acting up last night. Matt Barnes apparently punched someone at the SF Pro-Am. Which one of these is less surprising? … We’re out like summer league punches.

For breaking news, rumors, exclusive content, and contests sent right to your inbox, sign up here for the Dime Email Newsletter.

Follow Dime Magazine on Twitter

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook

×