(Image source: Cody Mulcahy / Wikimedia Commons)

BY NATHAN BYRNE

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

You're watching multisource sports video news analysis from Newsy. 

Pro athletes may earn nicknames, but NBA commissioner David Stern is living up to his real name.

According to ESPN, Stern warned players to take his deal by Wednesday, or get ready for one that’s a whole lot worse. The commissioner isn’t calling it an ultimatum, but everybody else is.

Chris Broussard, ESPN NBA Insider: “It’s bad, because David Stern has issued this ultimatum, the players call his offer ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unfair.’”

According to Bloomberg, union attorney Jeffrey Kessler said the proposal was an attempt to “strong-arm” players. The article explains:

“Under the new proposal, players would earn between 49 percent and 51 percent of basketball-related income depending upon league growth ... The proposal would drop to 47 percent after the deadline if players chose not to accept it.”

SB Nation’s NBA Editor says the threat is a sign Stern has gotten too used to getting his own way.

He compares the commissioner’s negotiation skills to Godzilla’s: “torch first, ask questions later.”

“With his steadfast refusal to actually negotiate in a civil manner...his toothless ultimatums...and his insistence that he is certainly, without question, absolutely right, Stern has managed to make himself look tyrannical from every angle.”

Sporting News calls it a “game of chicken,” and refers to the NBA lockout as “a ticking time bomb, set to detonate on Wednesday.”

“The rhetoric is getting thicker. … The treatment of taxpayers is the big holdup, and the two sides must now decide just how far they’ll go to fight for their viewpoint. Stern has laid out a deadline. The clock, certainly, is ticking.”

But maybe this matchup can go into overtime. That’s what CBSSports.com blogger, Ken Berger suggests.

“Of all the inflammatory words spoken after this latest fiasco, the words ‘best and final offer’ were never among them. That's legal mumbo-jumbo for this: There's still time to end the asshattery, if everyone's heads return to a place oxygen is available.”

Both sides are expected to line up and air their differences yet again in the next few days.