NBA Player Compares Owners to Wall Street, Players to Occupy Protesters

How many times can I afford to get my  braids done with only $44 million?

I put "NBA player" in the title, because unless you're a diehard NBA fan you might not know who Etan Thomas is or that he didn't retire a few years ago when he stopped being a relevant rotation player. Anyway, Etan Thomas and his 90's braids are given a forum on ESPN to speak from time to time and as a current player rep during this lockout, his words will be more scrutinized. Here's the money shot:

"Who is in the same position of power as the 1 percent ? Who wants a bailout for their own mismanagement decisions? Who is more closely aligned with the corporate interests from which the Wall Street occupiers are looking to reclaim the country?"

This is why David Stern fines any owners that speak. Someone is bound to say something that will alienate fans. The player side has no ban, so from time to time a player will put his foot in his mouth (usually on twitter). I have a hard enough time defending the millionaire players to fans, without players playing the "whoas me" card. The majority of fans are lucky to make like 10% of a NBA minimum salary ( arookie minimum salary for that matter). You're not going to get sympathy from fans for being asked to accept 3.5 million a year instead of 4 million a year. Yes, the fact that billionaire owners will simply use the savings on more yachts instead of reducing ticket prices is immaterial. Fans see players as rich. They don't see you as the 99%. Etan Thomas has made over 44 million dollars playing basketball. No one feels sorry for him.

Thomas did have good point about reporters constantly teasing fans that the NBA is close to a deal when they never have been.

"During recent negotiations, reporters continuously tweeted and wrote articles citing "anonymous sources" saying that we were closer to a deal then we actually were, or that progress was being made. Why do reporters keep giving false hope to fans?"

Reporters need to get new anonymous sources. I will agree on that.