Jamison fears labor dispute will alienate fans

Antawn Jamison was around for the NBA's last lockout during the 1998-99 season and believes the NFL going first could affect the NBA's public perception.

''I remember after the last [lockout] how we had to just go over and beyond to get the public back in our favor,'' Jamison said. ''You've got billionaires and millionaires fighting over money, there's a recession going on and a lot of that doesn't make sense. We can't get a perception that we're not talking and they're not trying to budge.''

To be clear, Jamison believes the NBA will have a lockout this summer.

''For how long is the question,'' he said.

''Just having another lockout is going to set us back even more,'' Jamison said. ''I know we have to iron things out with the numbers, but I think sometimes we tend to forget the fans are the reason we're here. You don't want to lose that. It took a while to get it back last time. It seemed like every year we were trying to do things to get the fans back on our side. We can ill afford to have that perception from fans of, 'Here we go again.' ''