The Wolves will lose six games.

If they indeed are gone, that means the Timberwolves will lose home games against Atlanta, Toronto, Phoenix and Sacramento and road games at Philadelphia and New Jersey in a shortened season.

That also means, for example, that Michael Beasley -- the Wolves' highest-paid player next season at $6.26 million -- will lose more than $458,000 if his team opens Nov. 16 against Milwaukee at Target Center.

And at this point, that's a very BIG if.

Somebody asked Wolves player representative Anthony Tolliver if he and his teammates are ready for canceled games and missed paychecks.

"If anybody isn't ready, it's their fault," Tolliver said by phone from Houston, his offseason home. "Everybody has been talking about this for a long time. We've all had a ton of meetings and been told to be prepared to miss games if we're going to get a fair deal. Obviously, the owners are playing chicken, thinking we'll give in at the last minute because they have leverage. We're not going to.

"We feel we have to hold out until we get a fair deal. Unfortunately, that's not happening right now."(...)

Wolves rookie Derrick Williams left college last spring after his sophomore season at Arizona knowing that his first NBA season might never be. On Monday night, he suggested via Twitter that he might now seek his first professional paycheck in Europe or Asia until a new labor agreement is reached.

Tolliver said Stern's announcement was anything but a surprise. "We've been preparing for this for two years," he said. "It would have been a great surprise the other way."