The NBA and players union met today in New York City for 7.5 hours, racking up a total of 22 hours of negotiationing within the past two days. The sides convened for 15 hours on Wednesday, and despite the fact that today’s session was not as long, progress was still made. In both the union’s and league’s press conferences, the officials expressed their desire to work toward a deal and they believe that the next few days could bring along a new CBA. Union Chief Billy Hunter told the media that he thinks the sides are in “striking distance,” and when asked when the big moves would be made, Stern shouted “tomorrow,” from the back of the room.
In the NBA’s press conference, Commissioner David Stern told David Aldridge that he has a real, concrete idea of what the new deal would look like. Stern believes that it is possible a big move could be made Friday, and Hunter told reporters that the sides are ready to talk for as long as it takes to sign a new CBA.
Just when it looked like the NBA would lose more games, suddenly there is hope in the basketball world. The sides will reconvene tomorrow at 10:30 A.M. EST, in hopes of agreeing to a new CBA and finally ending the NBA lockout.
