Players and owners are talking again, through their lawyers, and have been since Tuesday. As first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski on Yahoo! Sports Wednesday afternoon, the two sides resumed talks in an attempt to end the lockout before Christmas. Talks continued on Wednesday and will resume Friday with David Stern, Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher all on hand.
Woj described it as "a last-ditch effort to prevent the cancellation of the league’s Christmas games". Howard Beck later reported the NBA would like to see a 66-game season starting on Christmas Day. John Schuhmann of NBA.com estimates a 66-game season stretching into late April would require nearly four games a week, up from three and a half in an 82-game season.
Several writers independently confirmed news of the talks. Because the union decertified and sued the NBA, the talks are being construed as "lawsuit settlement talks" but both Stern and Hunter have taken part in the talks. NBA.com's Steve Aschburner reports the two sides are willing to talk on Friday as well and Marc Stein tweets that Stern is surveying owners to see if one of the big "system issues" --a full MLE for all teams-- is acceptable. That would seem to indicate the owners are willing to make concessions.
- NBA owners, players resume talks - Adrian Wojnarowski - Yahoo! Sports
- N.B.A. and Players Resume Negotiating - Howard Beck - New York Times
- Talks resume; is there time? - Ken Berger - CBS Sports
- NBA lockout -- New NBA talks aimed at resolving lawsuits, sources say - Marc Stein & Chris Broussard - ESPN
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NBA players, owners sparing no one as lockout battle continues - Sam Amick - Sports Illustrated
- Report: NBA owners, players have opened negotiations again - Kurt Helin - NBC Sports
- Secret talks being held in effort to end NBA lockout - Chris Sheridan - Sheridan Hoops
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Sources: Talks aimed at ending NBA lockout resume - Brian Mahoney - AP
- Christmas Day start hinges on success of renewed talks - Steve Aschburner - NBA.com
- NBA labor talks to continue after Thanksgiving Day following second day of meetings - Frank Isola - New York Daily News
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NBA makes last-ditch move to start season by Christmas Day - Marc Berman - New York Post
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NBA talks toward settlement resuming - Jeff Zillgitt - USA Today
- Report: NBA, Players reopen labor talks - Ben Golliver - CBS Sports
- Reports: NBA, players resume negotiations - Zach Lowe - Sports Illustrated
- Hoping for a miracle, NBA labor talks quietly restart - Sean Deveney - Sporting News
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NBA talks resume, with Dec. 25 again the target - Ira Winderman - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
- Stern Finds New Owners Paying Too Much Won’t Concede Anything in NBA Deal - Scott Soshnik - Bloomberg
- LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony's exhibition game during NBA lockout is no substitute for the real thing - Dave D'Alessandro - Star-Ledger