The collective wisdom of the NBA players and their union officials appears to be considerably above that of NHL players and their union officials, as the two sides struck a deal well before any lockout would have begun. The NBA has huge television revenue and the corporate media's hype machine behind it; the NHL has almost no national television revenue and a corporate media intent on keeping it a "second tier" sport, yet the hockey playersthought they could go on being paid like NBA players forever.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2091539
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2091539