Peachtree Hoops: NBA Lockout: Negotiations To Resume On Tuesday, Possibly Wednesday

[Hawksquawk]

Negotiations are scheduled to resume on Tuesday and may possibly extend into Wednesday between the NBA owners and the Player's Association. This will be the first negotiations since the league postponed training camp and canceled the first week of preseason games. 

Tuesday's negotiations will likely be in small groups with David Stern and Adam Silver leading the owners and Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher representing the players along with council from both sides. The two sides reported some progress previously in the smaller group sessions and hope to continue work on the split of basketball related income between the two sides. Once a deal has been reached on BRI, then the two sides will move on the system and salary cap format. 

Unless the two sides can agree on a deal by the first of next week, there is a real danger in the regular season not starting on time. Union vice president and former Atlanta Hawks forward Maurice Evans recently said in an ESPN chat that he didn't think the entire season would be cancelled but rather it would start somewhere between November and January.  

Pro Basketball Talk's Kurt Helin also reports that this thinking is becoming conventional wisdom between various sources. 

A source recently told me something similar, expect games to start somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are other rumblings along these lines. Nobody really knows for sure, but this seems to be becoming the new conventional wisdom. Nobody really expects a full season to be lost, but nobody really thinks the season will start on time, either.

While anything less than an 82 game season puts a damper on things in my eyes I am fast coming to the realization that in this situation any basketball is better than no basketball. All is not completely lost as of yet but the clock is ticking and their seems to be too much separation internally from both sides to think that a deal could get done by the first of next week. 

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