In a move that jeopardizes the basketball season, NBA players rejected the league's latest offer and said they would begin the process to disband their union.

 

It marked the lowest point so far in the league's contentious labor dispute, as the lockout hit its 137th day. "The 2011-12 season is now in jeopardy," said National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern.

 

Players rejected what the league had said was its best offer—a proposal to split revenue about 50-50 and start a 72-game season on Dec. 15. With the league unwilling to negotiate further, the players decided their best hope was to battle it out in court. Disbanding the union is a legal tactic that would allow the players to bring an antitrust lawsuit against the league. However, the league filed its own lawsuit earlier this year in hopes of preventing such an antitrust claim by the union.