The NBA season will happen after all, thanks to a handshake deal struck in N
ew York between David Stern’s NBA and what remains of Billy Hunter’s playe
rs association.

As the dust settles after one of the NBA’s more cantankerous episodes, here
’s an early peek at who wins and who loses in the upcoming new collective b
argaining agreement.

WINNER: David Stern

A missed season would have mucked up his legacy profoundly and called into q
uestion his ability to control his owners. A deal, on the other hand, shows
he still has the touch.

WINNER: Billy Hunter

He was under serious fire from agents. They have been concerned about his sa
lary, how he runs the union and too many concessions to the owners. And yet,
for the third time in as many attempts, he has delivered what matters most:
a deal. The first two times, pundits said they were bad deals for players,
but over the following years, the pundits were proved wrong -- the players h
ave done very well under Hunter, who many say has negotiated his last CBA. A
nd if the players are sharing in the league’s overseas and national TV reve
nues, this deal also could look great by the time it’s done.

WINNER: Adam Silver

Stern pointedly put his deputy in the spotlight through one of the choppier
moments in NBA history, with the tall order to “reset” the way the league
works in a fashion that favors owners. The ride was plenty bumpy, but missio
n more or less accomplished.

WINNER: Derek Fisher’s next career

For much of the lockout, Fisher became the public face of the union, and the
private one; he said he thought he had talked to every single NBA player du
ring the lockout, except for a few whose email addresses had changed. He pro
ved he can speak extemporaneously, in stressful environments, without puttin
g his foot in his mouth. That bodes well for whatever he wants to do next.

WINNERS: Player development experts

With luxury tax more punitive than ever, there will be a premium on those wh
o can help a team round out a roster with incredibly cheap but productive pl
ayers. The Spurs have had a habit of finding and developing those guys -- no
w every team will have to do so.

WINNERS: Stat geeks

Everyone is playing “Moneyball” now. If it can help you control player cos
ts, it can help you win titles.

WINNERS: Incoming owners

In Detroit and Philadelphia, they set the purchase price in an environment o
f league-wide losses and labor uncertainty. Now they emerge with owner-frien
dly rules, high TV ratings, media-friendly young stars to drive future leagu
e-wide ratings, a better national TV deal on the horizon, promising overseas
markets and the knowledge that it’ll be harder in the future for opponents
to outspend them.

LOSER: Mark Cuban

The good news is he gets to have a season of glory and a chance to defend th
at title. The bad news is he is said to have wanted a system that would prot
ect him from big losses even as he went all-out to field the most competitiv
e possible team. A stiff luxury tax, however, does not get him there. Now, t
o protect his bottom line, he’ll have to develop a new skill: spending disc
ipline.

WINNER: Jerry Buss

Revenue sharing is a bitter pill to swallow, but he still owns one of the mo
st lucrative franchises in sports, he’ll always be able to attract amazing
free agents and now fans will understand if he spends a little less on payro
ll.

LOSERS: Lakers fans

One nice thing about rooting for the Lakers has long been knowing that the t
eam would spend whatever it would take to be competitive. Now that’ll be ha
rder.

LOSERS: The big agents

They tested their influence among players against Hunter and Fisher. And ult
imately, this deal was struck between Hunter and Stern. Worth noting: The Pl
ayers Association regulates agents.

WINNERS: Players who signed long guaranteed deals in the past year

This is a big group, ranging from Paul Pierce to LeBron James. It’ll be tou
gh to beat their old-CBA deals under the new CBA.

WINNERS: The Knicks

This is a deep-pocketed team looking to build a winner. The Knicks still nee
d more players, and with a hard cap out of the picture, they continue to hav
e some flexibility to keep spending if they have to.

LOSERS: The middle class

As owners and the league have spent a year obsessing about player costs, one
clear factor has emerged: The poor-value contracts are the big deals for mi
ddling players. With or without stiff taxes, you can expect more teams to ca
tch on to the idea of paying for stars and filling in the rest of the roster
cheaply.

WINNER: The D-League

As more teams seek bargain players, more teams will invest effort in getting
the most out of the NBA's little brother.

LOSERS: Superstars

They have long made far less than they are worth, and that’s not going to c
hange now.

WINNERS: Strategic dealmakers

A wild and woolly free-agent miniseason likely will commence Dec. 9 under ne
w operating rules. Front offices that know the players they want and what th
ey’re worth in this brave new world could work wonders. Look for the usual
candidates -- San Antonio, Houston, Oklahoma City -- to be working the angle
s.

WINNER: Deron Williams

He gets to come home from Turkey without a major injury and having had likel
y the most lucrative offseason of any player. Mitigating factor: Now he’s s
eeking a big new deal in a more restrictive system.

WINNER: The New Orleans Hornets

These CBA talks long included talks of contracting the Hornets out of existe
nce. Now that the talks are over, it has to feel good that that discussion n
ever amounted to much. The next trick: Prove that under a new, more owner-fr
iendly deal the team can be viable in the Big Easy.

WINNERS: Fans of the Spurs, Heat, Magic and Mavericks

It was a terrible thing to have your “win now” team sit now.

WINNER: Kobe Bryant

He’s now the NBA’s highest-paid player and a guy who made the right moves
in the lockout, toying with various overseas backup plans while looking good
back home by offering to lend money to NBA colleagues in need.

WINNERS: Timberwolves

Owner Glen Taylor gets to reduce the financial pain. President of basketball
operations David Kahn keeps his job. New coach Rick Adelman breathes life i
nto the proceedings. And the long list of talented young players grows furth
er with Derrick Williams and Ricky Rubio.

WINNERS: The Denver Nuggets

Remember when the Heat had all that cap room to sign free agents? The Nugget
s are basically like that, only now all kinds of teams will be on a course t
o shed payroll. There’s not a system in the world in which you can’t parla
y tiny roster commitments into potential.

WINNER: Player movement

You know you love the excitement of a trade. And there’s going to be more o
f that. The old CBA went to some trouble to keep teams united. The new one,
not so much. The league noticed that LeBron James’ desertion of Cleveland s
purred more interest in the NBA, not, as feared, less. It’s no accident the
new system will inspire a lot of player movement.

Revenue sharing will be a factor here, too. While a lot of the CBA fight was
about the rich teams adding free agents, the deal's biggest effect might be
at the other end of the spending spectrum. The stingiest teams ought to be
ready to join the bidding to add salaries here and there. That's a win for s
mall markets and for free agents.

LOSERS: The Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers carry high salaries with a mediocre team, and we know for certai
n the GM has not spent the summer executing a new master plan. We know this
because there is no GM. But common sense would suggest this team has to win
a lot or change a lot, and one of its favorite tools of the past -- outspend
ing rivals -- has grown trickier.
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