The NBA will put its marquee players on display in next weekend’s All-Star Game in Dallas, but the party-like atmosphere is sure to be chilled when the stars learn the details of the collective bargaining agreement offer presented at the end of January by commissioner David Stern to players’ union director Billy Hunter.

The proposal, a source familiar with talks said, includes rollbacks that could reduce maximum guaranteed salaries, both for veterans such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, as well as up-and-comers like Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose, to almost a third of what they would have been eligible for under the current agreement.

Guaranteed salaries in imminent new contracts for LeBron James and Kobe Bryant would be reduced under an owners proposal to almost a third of what they would have been eligible for currently.
Perhaps the biggest shocker: The owners’ proposal includes a provision that would require any pre-existing deals to be revised to conform to the new deal’s limits.

The current deal is set to expire as of July 1, 2011. The league’s owners have the option to extend it one more year, but they’ve already made it clear they don’t intend to.

“The league has to be careful,” said one agent who requested anonymity. “If the top players are united against David, that’s going to make for a tough fight. It could get very ugly.”