Over the last two weeks the HOOPSWORLD team has taken an in-depth look at the hot button issues facing the NBA as its players and owners square off in the current labor dispute. Now here they are, all in one place. Take a look at the big issues as debated by our top experts and even sound off on what you think the best scenarios are for the owners and players moving forward.

Hard Cap For The NBA?

“The league and players are far from reaching an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA),” writes HOOPSWORLD’s Eric Pincus. ”How long the lockout will last is hard to say, but there’s no end in sight. One key hot-button issue is the notion of a hard cap. The league wants to set a maximum salary that teams can collectively pay to their players. For the union, it’s a line in the sand they just won’t cross. And they shouldn’t . . .”

“Surprise! There already IS a hard cap,” writes HOOPSWORLD’s Jason Fleming. “Putting teams on a level playing field, where how much a team spends is no longer a variable. More emphasis will be placed on getting the right players who fit the right system, rather than on spending every single dollar they possibly can. One of the myths about a hard cap is players will no longer be paid what a free market deems they are worth. Well, the current system doesn’t, either.”

Check that debate out here!

Should The NBA Adopt a Franchise Tag?

“As human beings, we all should be afforded the right to work and live where we want to, especially after paying our dues in a location that we never really considered ideal,” writes HOOPSWORLD’s Joel Brigham. “For the sake of professional basketball, however, organizations should be given every possible opportunity to keep the franchise-saving players they had the luck and/or savvy to draft. Otherwise, what’s to keep every player in the league from roughing out their rookie contracts and then signing with the Lakers or Knicks or Bulls or Mavericks? Those are the teams in the big markets with the great TV contracts where everybody wants to play, and those are the teams that aren’t losing money in the first place.”

“If the NFL players have given up the right to choose, that’s on them,” says Eric Pincus. “To an NBA star, why should he be forced to play for one team his entire career? The union simply isn’t willing to give up that freedom. As it is, they’ve allowed for restricted free agency in the early days of a player’s career.  They’re not going to go for a franchise tag in this negotiation. From a practicality perspective, it’s a bad idea because it would only freeze the league indefinitely in lockout. As is it, resolution to the gaps that exist seem insurmountable.”

Check out the entire debate on this issue by clicking here!