Start of NBA season believed at stake in weekend talks
Miami Heat star LeBron James arrives at NBA labor talks in New York on Friday.
September 30th, 2011
05:38 PM ET

Start of NBA season believed at stake in weekend talks

NBA fans might know by the end of the weekend if the regular season will start on time November 1, with team owners and locked-out players gathering in New York for crucial talks aimed at a new labor deal.

Deputy commissioner Adam Silver told reporters this week that the league is “getting very close” to having to delay the regular season if significant progress isn’t made in this weekend’s talks, which began Friday.

Commissioner David Stern may have gone further, warning Wednesday of “enormous consequences” if progress isn’t made.

“Then it won’t be a question of just starting the season on time, it will be a lot at risk from the absence of progress,” he said.

The owners’ labor relations committee and a players’ committee – joined by some stars who aren’t on the players’ panel, such as LeBron James - were meeting Friday, and could meet Saturday and Sunday, according to NBA.com.

Team owners have locked out their players since July, when the last collective bargaining agreement – a contract between the teams and the players union which outlines the rules of the players’ pay – expired. One key issue has been the owners’ demand for a hard salary cap, driven in part by claims that 22 of 30 teams lost money last season.

SI.com: One group of owners holds key to ending lockout

The lack of a deal prompted the league to postpone training camps that were supposed to start next week, and cancel 43 preseason games that were supposed to be played October 9-15.

NBA.com writer Steve Aschburner has noted that regular season games wouldn’t happen immediately after a handshake agreement. The deal would need to be ratified, and a free-agency period would need to be squeezed in, not to mention preseason games.

Asked on Wednesday whether the league could start a season without preseason games, Stern said he wouldn’t “deal with hypotheticals.”

“I’m focused on (getting) the two committees in and … whether they can either have a season or not have a season. And that’s what’s at risk this weekend,” Stern said.

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Filed under: Basketball • NBA • Sports
soundoff (26 Responses)
  1. PooDIPIDI

    Enjoy your money from sports while it lasts barbarians. With the way the economy is going, in a few of years, no one is going to care about basketball.

    September 30, 2011 at 10:46 pm | Report abuse |
    • edvhou812

      I'd argue that they'd care even more. The sport likely will make less money, but people will want an escape from their troubles. With that said, NBA will miss at least a partial season.

      October 1, 2011 at 12:02 am | Report abuse |
  2. Bill

    YEA!

    October 1, 2011 at 1:02 am | Report abuse |
  3. Kessas

    agreed. People will want to escape? The only thing they will want to escape will be poverty and being unemployed.

    October 1, 2011 at 2:53 am | Report abuse |
  4. RUFFNUTT ( ELF SLAYER & TURKEY HUNTER )

    who cares?? march madness is the only basketball anyone cares about..
    .
    kobe killed the nba when he and his buddies back doored that lady..

    October 1, 2011 at 11:12 am | Report abuse |
  5. bobcat2u.

    Just don't LeBron make any gaurantees on this. We've already seen how is "gaurantees" work out.

    October 1, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Report abuse |
  6. WAHOOPPYPDINDLDOOBERG

    WHITES AREN’T WELCOME IN AMERICA ANY LONGER !!! WE DON’T NEED YOU ANYMORE !!! OUT OF AMERICA WITH WHITES !!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xGfYOAydjw OR http://www.youtube.com/user/BostjanAvsec

    Make sure to play one from beginning as youtube is censoring proofs of genocide against whites by either playing video in the middle or blocking one entirely from play

    Just in case or if not functioning, please use either http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xleq3o OR http://www.vidup.de/v/9dNJo/
    VISIT ALL NEW “OBAMA = STALIN = BUSH or USA = SOVIET UNION”
    http://avsecbostjan.blogspot.com/ or http://avsecbostjan.wordpress.com/

    IS IT INDEPENDENCE THAT WE CELEBRATE OR DEPENDENCE (what are your credit card bills or alimony saying about it) !!? HOW IS YOUR DIABETES AND LOST MARRIAGES !!? FORECLOSURES AND JOB SEARCH !!? THAT IS THE QUESTION TO BE OR NOT TO BE !!! IS IT LAND OF THE FREE OR STATE OF TERROR AGAINST OWN WHITE POPULATION !!? IT IS TIME TO LET THEM KNOW WHAT COLOR ARE THE STRIPES ON OUR STAR SPANGLED BANNER !!! TIME TO DETERMINE WHOSE INDEPENDENCE/AMERICA, WE CELEBRATE TODAY(who wants to erase us and denies us the right to exist) !!! IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHOM WE ADDRESS WITH "PRESIDENT" (STOP HUMILIATING YOURSELF) !!!

    911(TWIN TOWERS) = NORWAY BOMBING OR STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM !!

    ARIZONA = UTOYA = THERE WAS NO SHOOTING EITHER IN NORWAY OR ARIZONA, BUT “AFTERLIFE” FLASH MOB INSTEAD !! Tear gas and theater were used on faces of multiculturalism maniacs while calling YOU a terrorists !! Guilt or blame and shame weapon against us and our families in our own countries during bogus “economic crises” while importing here non white third world foreigners !!!
    MULTYCULTURALISM = TERRORISM !! OBAMA = OSAMA !!!
    http://stateofterror.blogspot.com/ http://stateofterror.wordpress.com/

    911 WAS CREATED FOR PEOPLE TO WAKE UP(deliberately by CIA)....HOWEVER, WAKE UP EITHER TO WHAT IS TRUTH(sanity) OR WAKE UP TO LIES(insanity = with what your self elected governments have brainwashed you when forcefully jobless/persecuted....therefor­­e, I want you to think about "WAKE UP" when watching next time ALEX JONES = CIA)

    WHEN YOU WAKE UP, I WANT YOU TO WAKE TO YOURSELF AND NOT TO SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM (ZIONIST/COMMUNIST/LIBERAL DREAM CATCHERS/THIEFS, WHO PLOTTED 911 TO WAKE YOU IN A WORLD OF LIES !!!)

    HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TRUTH IS !!? WHATEVER YOU WERE BORN IS WHAT YOU ARE(truth therefore) AND FOR WHATEVER REASONS YOU HAVE CHANGED(distorted yourself) SINCE 9/11 IS WHAT YOU ARE NOT !!!

    FOR PIECE OF MIND(sanity), PLEASE VISIT MY WEBSITES AND REMEMBER, GENOCIDE(health care) BASED ON FORGIVE AND FORGET IS NOT FOR ME !!! DIGNITY, PRIDE, AND HONOR ARE WORTH TO DIE AND KILL FOR !!!

    October 2, 2011 at 6:11 pm | Report abuse |
  7. Josh

    We do not need a 9.1 unemployment rate at all . We just need to fix our economy.

    October 3, 2011 at 2:27 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Sara12

    Why are people so worried about the NBA in today's economy? If most people cannot even make their house payments, these men should not be paid what they are being paid. If the season is starting late because the teams cannot meet the player's salary demands, the team should reduce the player's salaries.

    October 3, 2011 at 9:29 pm | Report abuse |
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