At this point, everyone has lamented the fact that the ongoing CBA negotiations between the owners and the players of the NBA have reached a calamitous point of no return, with the players decertifying and subsequently filing a lawsuit against the league, challenging the legality of the ongoing lockout.

It was high time for the union to make some form of move to regain leverage of contract negotiations that have firmly been dictated by the owners, particularly the small-market hardliners like Michael Jordan, who are demanding compensation for their organizational mismanagement, masked behind a desire to “create an even playing field.”

But the NBA players are not in the same position as their football counterparts, who used their lawsuit against the NFL to reach a relatively balanced settlement thanks to mediation. For starters, they are getting into the process much later on, four months into the lockout. As a result, the league has already filed preemptive action within the judicial system looking to validate the lockout.

Ultimately, not only did the players lose the opportunity to file their grievance first, they lost a significant amount of time and leverage in the process. The lockout has already spilled into the regular season and is costing players paychecks. Meanwhile, the negotiations have seen the players’ split of league shrink as each week has progressed, with the leadership tandem of Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher being willing to accept a 51-49 split of revenue in favor of the players.

Any subsequent agreement between the two sides will not go past this margin now that previous concessions have already been made; had the lawsuit been filed earlier, court decisions could have allowed the league and its players to come to an agreement with fewer concessions from the union.

It’s important to remember that the NFL reached a CBA agreement within the early stages of the lawsuit (four months after decertifying).  If the lockout were to last another four months, the entire regular season would be essentially lost. And if the players are as resolute as they implied during their press conference, then we could be in for a whole year of proceedings, going through various appeals courts and mediation hearings before finally one side screams “uncle” and we can get back to professional basketball as we know it.