NEW YORK (AP) — Owners and players have arrived for
a "very huge day" in the NBA, with perhaps the fate of the league's
82-game schedule at stake.
With both sides acknowledging they are nearly out
of time to save the Nov. 1 opener, some level of progress seemed essential in a
meeting Tuesday between their full bargaining committees.
The sides were first meeting among themselves, with
the bargaining session expected to start in the early afternoon.
Union president Derek Fisher said Monday that signs
pointed to Tuesday as being a "very huge day." His teammate Kobe
Bryant arrived Tuesday for the meetings, with Boston Celtics stars Paul Pierce
and Kevin Garnett among other players joining the union's executive committee.
They were sitting down with the labor relations
committee of the owners, who locked out the players on July 1 when the sides
were unable to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement.
Saying they lost $300 million last season, owners
are seeking changes to the salary cap system and the division of revenues.
Players were guaranteed 57 percent in the old deal, and owners so far have
proposed a reduction to 46 percent.
"We're apart on the split, but we know that
the answer lies between where they were are, where we are," Commissioner
David Stern said. "And without defining ours or defining theirs, I think
if there's a will, we'll be able to deal with both the splits and the system
issues."
Training camps have been postponed and 43 preseason
games scheduled for Oct. 9-15 were canceled, and more damage seems imminent.
Given that nearly a month would be necessary between the time an agreement is
reached and games could take place, both sides have repeatedly said they are
aware of the calendar and the looming deadlines.
"Each side understands exactly what's at stake
and where potentially there is movement in order to try to get a deal
done," Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said Monday. "I mean, we can
only say we're running out of time so many times.
"We both understand that if we don't make our
best offers in the next few days, we're going to be at the point where we're
going to be causing damage to the game, to ourselves, and they're going to be
out paychecks," he added.
Stern said it would be difficult to fit in all 82
games if the season doesn't start on time. The NBA has lost games to a work
stoppage only once, when the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
