The NBA and players union conducted their longest labor meeting today, which lasted for 7.5 hours. The sides gathered in New York City, and despite the extended session, little progress was made. Representatives from the union told the media that there is still a large gap between both sides and that more works needs to be done in order to end the lockout.
Union executive Roger Mason updated his followers on the meeting via Twitter: ““Finished another long day of meetings. Unfortunately nothing new to report. We are still very far from a deal.”
Today’s talks were focused more on the league’s system, instead of the usual Basketball Related Income. One positive coming out of this meeting is that the sides will return to the drawing boards on Monday and Tuesday.
Howard Beck NYT: “NBA talks will break for a day, then resume with small-group session Monday and full committees Tuesday.”
Commissioner David Stern commented on what transpired in the labor session by saying that the sides are closer than they were before, but still nowhere to their liking. “We’re not near anything,” added Stern, “but wherever that is, we’re closer than we were before.”
All NBA fans can now hope for is that the meetings on Monday and Tuesday will be better than the one today. Although the pre-season is currently scheduled to occur, the league may have to cancel the entire schedule if nothing happens next week.
