After a 15-hour bargaining session, the two sides emerged this morning to announce that indeed "progress", even "significant progress" had been made in the collective bargaining talks, a new session will be held beginning Thursday afternoon and that a full 82-game schedule is still, theoretically, possible.
"There’s no question today was a better day than last Thursday," Deputy Commission Silver said referring to last week's disastrous session and press conferences. "I think it’s too early … still in the negotiations to express confidence we’re at a deal. There’s, no question, though, we did make progress on some significant issues. But there are still some significant issues left."
The two sides dealt primarily with "system issues", like the luxury tax, on which significant progress was made; exceptions like the MLE, contract lengths, etc. The thornier issues, the split of BRI, still has to be dealt with but Wednesday's talks were not preconditioned on a 50-50, as last Thursday's had.
Once an agreement is reached in principle, the the union and owners will have to ratify it. At least three weeks will be needed to get the deal written up, allow teams to sign free agents and hold abbreviated training camps. All that could , push the start of the regular season to Thanksgiving weekend or the first week of December. A new schedule will have to be drawn up, with replacement games tagged on at the end of the season.
- NBA, players make progress toward deal - Adrian Wojnarowski - Yahoo! Sports
- NBA marathon session ends after 15 hours - Brian Mahoney - AP
- Progress on system; 82 games still 'possible' - Ken Berger - CBS Sports
- N.B.A. Negotiations Yield a Glimmer of Hope for Full Season - Howard Beck - New York Times
- NBA owners, union have another long meeting - Alan Hahn - New York Newsday
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Hope for NBA deal after 15-hour talks - Marc Berman - New York Post
- NBA, union meet for 15 hours - ESPN
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Can NBA save its entire season? - Sam Amico - FOX Sports
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Lockout update: After 15+ hours of talks, 82 games still possible - Chris Sheridan - Sheridan Hoops
- NBA's David Stern, Adam Silver discuss crucial stage of CBA negotiations - Salt Lake Tribune