Wyc Grousbeck

The NBA officially entered a lockout at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, and while positive signs are emerging from the NFL camp, more and more questions are developing about whether NBA owners and players can negotiate a collective bargaining agreement before the league starts losing games.

In fact, some owners are willing to lose the entire 2011-12 NBA season in order to get what they want, and Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck is among them, according to Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski:

Back in the labor talks of 2005, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck would say over and over in the negotiating sessions: The lockout is an investment.

Grousbeck smartened up, kept that thought to himself, but rest assured the mindset hasn’t changed. He’s one of the owners believed to be willing to lose the next season, along with Phoenix’s Robert Sarver.

While the Celtics are thought to be one of the few teams that could actually benefit from a shortened season — considering the aging legs of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Jermaine O’Neal — only Grousbeck would benefit from a lost season, as $31.2 million worth of Garnett and Allen would come off the books. That is, unless you think Dwight Howard is wearing green if and when the 2012-13 season comes around.