There never has been a clearer picture of who the true villain is when it comes to this NBA lockout.

After extended meetings Sunday and Monday, which only appeared to separate the two parties even further and led to the cancellation of two weeks of the regular season, it’s now terribly obvious just how much manipulating is being done here by the NBA’s commissioner and owners.

These recent talks weren’t supposed to be about how to split basketball-related income. These talks were supposed to be about the simpler part of the negotiations, at least it seemed. This was supposed to be about the system. And with the owners supposedly having backed down on a true hard cap and making concessions on areas such as the midlevel exception, this was supposed to be a positive step.

Then we come to find out that, according to commissioner David Stern, the two sides might be further apart in these areas than they are in that $120 million tug-o-war over BRI.

Convenient, isn’t it? Just when it appeared that the entire sports world wanted to step in to force owners to offer a fair 50-50 split — one without that $350 million taken off the top for expenses — and put an end to this agonizing NBA-free society, now the system appears to be the bigger problem.

It’s painfully obvious that this is merely another mechanism for the owners to lure more money away from the players; a chance to say, “Fine, we’ll take a huge step toward you in the system side if you give us more of the revenue.”

This looks to have been Stern’s plan the entire time, and here’s why it’s so infuriating that he’s now claiming that this gulf in the “system” discussion is what could extend this lockout to depressing lengths:

This whole concept of competitive balance in the NBA is essentially a unicorn. The owners can implement any system they want to limit player movement, to lower salaries, to encourage “loyalty,” but it still won’t change the fact that there will always be an elite few in the NBA.

More so than any other league, the NBA is driven by the elite players. There is more of a gap between the top two tiers of players in the NBA than there is in any other sport.

If you want to create some semblance of competitive balance, force Pat Riley to take over the Bucks. Move Gregg Popovich to the head-coaching seat in Golden State (no offense to Mark Jackson).

Because the only way these constantly struggling teams are going to chase a championship anytime soon is to get lucky in the draft, then have the right people in place to build a winning team.

The salary cap won’t create that. Getting rid of the midlevel won’t create that. Limiting Bird Rights won’t create that.

Yet, that’s what the owners are trying to convince us of now. That the NBA’s desire to be more like the balanced NFL is what this lockout is now about.

That’s complete nonsense.

If Stern really cared that much about his smaller markets, he would do his best to put an end to this lockout soon.

Because it’s the fans in those markets who will abandon the NBA first.

The Bulls, Knicks, Lakers and Heat will hold on to their fans. The Kings, Grizzlies, Pacers and Bobcats will have a harder time bringing theirs back — and good luck trying to sell them on a “more competitive league” once play resumes.

This league has been and always will be driven by the elite. And this lockout, at least on the owners’ side, has been and always will be about the money.