NBA Cancels Regular Season Games, NBA Players React on Twitter

While there’s still hope that some of the upcoming NBA season can be salvaged, that prospect is looking less and less likely, especially after the recent announcement from NBA Commissioner David Stern concerning the cancellation of the first two weeks of games for the 2011-12 regular season.

Stern, who indicated both sides “remain very, very apart on all issues,” has been taking something of a beating in the media, with the main point of contention being his preference for representing the owners’ interest and treating the players — and the fans — like they don’t matter. It appears as if Stern’s only concern is making sure his owners don’t lose money.

More from Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski:

Stern hinted that the owners’ proposals to the players might only get worse so they can recoup losses incurred by the cancellation of games. Many players have long expected the league would wait until the players started missing paychecks to see if the union would settle for a less favorable deal.

There’s much, much more from where that came from, but the bottom line is this, especially after you read what various “sources” have offered; that is, the owners — with David Stern at their backs — want the players to capitulate while giving little to nothing in return. From everything that’s being written, we, as fans, may not see NBA basketball for some time.

And the owners are happy with that, especially if they get what they want from the players.

As is the case, whenever something big like the cancellation of regular season games in a professional sport hits the wires, people, including the players, react. Of course, one of the more popular mediums for these reactions is Twitter, and after the announcement, many players took to their Twitter accounts to let the world know how they feel.

These NBA player tweets did not disappoint. Along with the previous “David Stern” Twitter trend, the reaction towards the NBA establishment is not favorable. First, a couple of highlights from the Stern trend. Unfortunately, some Twitter users have no idea how the “greater than” symbol works:

Unless these guys are on Stern’s side, which is possible, I suppose. The players, however, are not. Not at this time, anyway:

If you aren’t aware, Derek Fisher is the president of the National Basketball Players Association, meaning he’s the main representative of NBA players in these discussions. Reaction from the players continues:

Nash’s sentiment towards those who are employed by NBA teams for concessions and other duties has been echoed by many players:

If they weren’t apologizing to the employees who won’t be working, the players were either expressing their disappointment, clarifying misinformation, or simply apologizing to the fans for the cancellation announcement:

Even though the players seem to be united, it won’t make much difference to the owners who feel their basketball franchise should be a guarantee of massive profits, and are willing to sacrifice an entire season to get their way. It also appears as if the NBA players aren’t nearly as organized as the NFL union was, who, at this point, had already filed to decertify their union. As far as the NBA players union goes, besides a letter from a group of agents who mentioned the option of decertification — something they already backed off of — the players haven’t made such a move, one the owners apparently fear.

For those of you looking for an answer concerning the return of the NBA, sorry, you won’t find any here.