David Stern has a gun pointed at the players’ heads.

“This gun will not kill you,” he is shouting. “But as soon as I pull the trigger, the 50-50 split is gone. The relatively soft cap is gone. You will be faced with a 47-53 BRI split and a hard — err, I mean flex — cap.”

The players need to decide whether Stern’s gun is loaded. Stern swears it is. (Brian Mahoney twitter)

I asked Stern about the idea that players could ask for tweaks to the current proposal, which has been speculated. Answer to follow.

“I want to answer this diplomatically. The next time we meet to discuss anything, we’ll be discussing the 47% proposal. This is it.” _ Stern

“We’ve been negotiating this for 2½ years. The owners authorized a revised proposal, and they said if it’s not acceptable …

“… and they want to keep negotiating, we present them with a 47 percent, flex cap proposal. They know it,” Stern said.

Billy Hunter reportedly wants to present NBA owners with a counterproposal. A ticking time bomb rests underneath this week’s negotiations (or lack thereof). I’m afraid. Very afraid.