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NBA Owners and Players Talking Again

Bob Whalon Written by Bob Whalon, Tuesday September 27 2011
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There was nothing new to report, but at least they're talking again.
 
That seems to be the situation in New York, where negotiators for the NBA and its players met for about two hours on Tuesday.  Commissioner David Stern wouldn't provide any insight into what was discussed at the meeting, but hinted that perhaps they could make more progress on Wednesday when the two sides are scheduled to sit down again.  That's good news considering that the NBA lockout is now in its third month, with no end in sight.
 
"They and we have both agreed that so long as there is reason to keep discussing, we will keep discussing, undeterred by the calendar or weekend or things like that," Stern said.  "We will know more after tomorrow's session."  There were no plans to meet on Thursday since both sides will be observing the Jewish holiday.   
 
Although the meeting was brief, both sides said not to read anything positive or negative into that.  "We've talked extensively in ideas and concepts, these are things that if we can get into a range of, get into the zone of, then maybe we can put a deal together," players' association president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers said.
 
Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said that although the groups were small, the owners' labor relations committee would be prepared to return to the table this week.  "They stand ready to come to New York, or wherever else, if there's a reason to continue on Friday," he said.
 

Stern and Silver were joined at the meeting by Spurs owner Peter Holt, who leads the labor relations committee and NBA senior vice president and deputy general counsel Dan Rube.  Fisher and union executive director Billy Hunter had attorneys Ron Klempner and Jeffrey Kessler with them, and economist Kevin Murphy will return on Wednesday.

 

Stern and Fisher said that they discussed the two major issues in the lockout, the salary cap system and the split of league revenues.  Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, the players were guaranteed 57 percent of revenues, but the owners claimed that split was not economically feasible for them.  They want to reduce the players' percentage to the 40s.

 

Training camps have already been postponed and all 43 preseason games scheduled for Oct. 9-15 were canceled on Friday.  The sides need to agree on a new deal quickly in order to avoid any further damage to the NBA calendar.  The regular season is scheduled to begin on Nov.1.

 


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