Dwight's future in Orlando, NBA All Star Game, In Jeopardy 

By WDBO's Scott Anez

It doesn't make a whole lotta sense, does it?

For those of us who punch the clock each and every day, this NBA lockout is so utterly frustrating and down right maddening. But, no one ever said that work stoppages in professional sports were logical. 

Do you really think the players are gonna feel the pain--with $200 million in escrow cash coming their way soon? 

How about the owners?  Will the lockout even make a dent these billionaires' wallets? 

Whose side am I on?

Frankly, at this point, does anybody really care which side to take? 

With the first two weeks of the coming NBA season already scrapped, It is painfully obvious now that the owners are willing to cancel the entire season and beyond to get players' salaries and escalating costs, as they say, under control. 

The NBA Players Union is the highest paid union in the world, the owners will tell you.  Players, on average, are paid $4.8 million per year.  Owners will also tell you that it's time for the players to, at least, split world-wide basketball related income 50-50.  The players, in the last CBA, got 57%.  Owners also want to create a hard salary cap to keep costs down. 

The players want to hold on to what they believe they've earned over the years.  They have come down to 52.5% BRI--but that doesn't seem to be enough for a resolute bunch of owners right now.

This is very much an over-simplification at this point---but the point is, the owners have shown that they are more than willing to pull the plug on this entire season.

What does that mean for Orlando?

For one, it may mean we have witnessed the final game Dwight Howard will ever play in a Magic uniform. 

Dwight, who becomes a free agent at season's end, has recently inferred via magazine interviews and tweets that he's tired of being a big fish in a small pond.  Where have we heard that before?  My bet is that Kobe Bryant has been in Dwight's ear all summer, a summer in which the Magic, because of the lockout, have not been allowed to tell D-12 how much they love and adore him.  

Secondly, it looks to me as if the 2012 NBA All Star Game set for February in Orlando is, at most, on life support right now.

With the first two weeks of the regular season gone, and with no future meetings planned between the owners and players, it looks to me as if Commissioner David Stern will likely wipe out another couple of weeks soon.  That takes us into December.  With the All Star team selected upon the results of the first 30-or so games of a season, that wipes away at least 15-17 of those 30 games.  How can you select All Stars based upon 15 games? 

Plus, as huge and complex an event the ASG is, I would imagine that thousands of hotel reservations will have to be made by, say, the middle of November.  The next cancellation may serve as a death knell for Orlando's All Star game and the $100 million impact that comes with it.

Believe me, I wish I had some good news, Magic fans.

Who gets hurt the most in these ridiculous work stoppages?

It is, and always has been, you and me.

It's the fans who just want to watch their team play ball.

It's the ushers, ticket takers and popcorn makers who make their living at NBA arenas.

It's the communities who have come to rely on NBA clubs for financial assistance, for civic pride, for a night out and a good time.

This NBA lockout is maddening in so many ways--and it may cost Orlando in more ways than one.