NEW YORK (AP) — NBA owners and players called it an
early night Thursday, with both pointing toward Friday as a decisive day for
big moves to end the 119-day lockout.
Or not.
After two days of talks about the salary cap
system, they will turn their attention back to the division of revenues, which
derailed the negotiations last week.
This time, Commissioner David Stern said the talks
had produced enough familiarity and trust "that will enable us to look
forward to tomorrow, where we anticipate there will be some important and
additional progress — or not."
"But I think (union executive director Billy
Hunter) and I share that view, and we're looking forward to seeing whether
something good can be made to happen."
The sides again said there was some minor progress
on the system issues after about 7 1/2 hours of talks. They decided to wrap it
up and get some rest following a marathon 15-hour session Wednesday, and with
union economist Kevin Murphy unavailable Thursday to discuss finances.
Hunter said he thought the sides were "within
striking distance of a getting a deal" on the system, but there's still no
indication either side is ready to make the big move necessary to settling the
BRI split.
Owners have insisted they're not going beyond
50-50, which means the sides are still about $100 million apart annually, based
on last season's revenues. Players have proposed reducing their guarantee from
57 percent down to 52.5, but they're unlikely to go much further without some
concessions on the system issues.
"I think we're within reach and within
striking distance of getting a deal," Hunter said. "It's just a
question of how receptive the NBA is and whether or not they want to do a
deal."
Asked when the significant move would happen,
Hunter noticed Stern sitting in the back of his press conference and said to
ask the commissioner.
"Tomorrow!" Stern yelled out.
"There are no guarantees that we'll get it
done, but we're going to give it one heck of a shot tomorrow," Stern said
a few minutes later in his press conference. "I think that Billy and the
union's negotiators feel the same way. I know that ours do."
If they don't, Stern will have to decide whether to
add more cancellations to the two weeks that have already been lost.
A full season might be difficult even with a deal
this week. It takes roughly 30 days from agreement to games being played, so
it's uncertain if there's still time for any basketball in November even before
examining arena availability. But 82 games would be a boost for the players,
meaning they wouldn't miss the paycheck that seemed lost when the first two
weeks were scrapped.
It was widely expected Stern would announce further
cancellations this week after talks broke down a week ago. Instead, the sides
were in communication the next day, staffs met Monday, and they were back at
the bargaining table Wednesday, acting on Hunter's recommendation to
"park" the revenue split and focus first on the system issues.
Players want a system that looks a lot like the old
one, where teams have the ability to exceed the salary cap and where contracts
and their raises are guaranteed. Owners are seeking changes that they believe
would create more competitive balance by removing the big market teams' ability
to spend freely beyond the cap.
They have attempted to do that by increasing the
penalties teams would have to pay for exceeding the tax level. Players argue
the taxes are too punitive and would scare teams from spending, thereby
creating a hard cap.
"Our position hasn't changed much," union
president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said. "We're just trying to make sure
that players have an opportunity to have a market for themselves and for their
services, the same way we're trying to meet the league and our teams on all 30
teams being competitive."
Players have said the issues of the system and
split are largely tied together, though Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam
Silver have said they believe they are separate.
The key question is whether owners will insist on
having both — and it sounds like they might.
"We need to resolve both issues and both
issues are critical," Silver said. "One is not dependent on the
other."
The sides again met in the small-group format that
has been most successful in the lockout, with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban
and union vice president of the Knicks Roger Mason Jr. also joining the talks.
The sides have seemed close before, only for the
talks to break down. It was the system issues earlier this month, followed by
the split last week after three days of mediation.
They are hoping a deal can be completed by early
next week, with the union believing if so there would still be enough time to
reschedule the canceled games. But they've now arrived at what might be the
toughest part, because it always seemed these talks would come back to money.
"We're working at it," Fisher said.
"It's a tough process and as we move through and try to close the gap in
as many places as we can, it gets tougher towards the end."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
