Less than a month after the NBA lockout began, ESPN sources revealed that discussions are set to resume on Monday August 1 between commissioner David Stern, union director Billy Hunter and their top officials.
Both sides remain far apart on the specifics of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), however, the scheduled in-person meeting does display some signs of progress since the lockout began on July 1, 2011.
The last meeting between the two sides took place on June 30, where the players proposed a six-year agreement in which they would cut their take of basketball-related income (BRI) from 57 percent to 54.6 percent.
However, the owners are looking for a 10-year agreement that includes a hard salary cap, and their most recent offer had the players making at least $2 billion in each of the 10 seasons.
More recently, prominent players approached Hunter and suggested that he opt for a fast-tracking move toward desertification, which would allow the players to sue the league’s owners on anti-trust grounds. However, Hunter decided to wait a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board regarding an unfair practices complaint that the union filed earlier this season.
