The NBA's first lockout since 1998-99 started a few hours ago.

Strap in.

This labor battle could make the one that led to a bastardized 50-game season 13 years ago look like a summer stroll through Liberty Park.

Today's owners and players are further apart than the former Mr. and Mrs. Hulk Hogan and, given the lessons learned by the last one, any lockout that delays the start of the new season could eliminate it entirely.

The labor war in 1999 was especially difficult for the Utah Jazz.

Coming off back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals, the Jazz were a year older but remained one of the league's best teams — maybe the best team, given Michael Jordan's first retirement.

The Big Three of Karl Malone, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek returned for one more run at a championship, and role players Bryon Russell, Shandon Anderson, Greg Ostertag and Howard Eisley were in their prime.

The Jazz seemed ready to pounce in the Jordan-less NBA.

It might have happened, too, without the lockout.

But nobody will ever know.

The prevailing theory in 1999 was a short season would benefit a veteran team such as Utah, but coach Jerry Sloan knew better.

Although he never talked about it, which he felt would give his players a built-in excuse for failure, Sloan knew that compacting 50 games into a three-month period would change the dynamics of the season.

He knew as the fruitless labor negotiations stretched into November and December, the Jazz's chances of making another championship-caliber run — probably their last run — had been compromised.

And that's exactly what happened.

The Jazz won their first six games, started 19-4 and took a 32-8 record into the final two weeks of the season.

Still on track to earn the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, they trudged through those final two weeks and split the final 10 games.

At 37-13, Utah and San Antonio ended up sharing the NBA's best record. But the Spurs got the West's No. 1 seed based on a 2-1 edge in the season series.

The Jazz became the West's No. 3 seed, behind Portland, which had won its division.

As a result, San Antonio drew Minnesota and the yet-to-emerge Lakers in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The Jazz played athletic, up-and-coming Sacramento in the first round and, after a grueling five-game series against the Kings, had nothing left against Portland, which was another bad matchup.

The Trail Blazers won the series in six mostly close games, and the Jazz's decade-long run as a Stockton-and-Malone-led contender ended.

A contributing factor?

The lockout.

Today's NBA owners and players must learn from what happened in 1999.

Starting today, lives and careers will be changed by the lockout.

Nobody wins.

Everybody loses.

It's a history lesson that needs to be recognized and must be avoided, unless those involved are too greedy for their own good.

luhm@sltrib.com