NBA labour talks go deep into the night; Will resume on Monday – NBA Lockout News
The NBA owners and players union representatives met again on Sunday to try and find a way around their differences in New York. The meeting that had been hurriedly convened, went into the late hours of Sunday and the only detail
disclosed to the media was that it will reconvene on Monday.
“We don’t have any comment at all, other than we are breaking for the night and reconvening tomorrow afternoon,” NBA Commissioner David Stern told reporters after emerging from the meeting which ran for around 5 hours.
Both sides had agreed not to disclose much to the media, believing that keeping things under wraps gave them a better chance of reaching a compromise.
“We’re not necessarily any closer than we were [going into] tonight,” Derek Fisher, President of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), told reporters in New York shortly before midnight.
Fisher participated in the meeting alongside NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter, who cancelled a briefing session with the players to be part of the discussion in New York. Jeffrey Kessler and Ron Klempner, legal counsels to
the union were also present at the occasion.
For the owners, David Stern was accompanied by NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, owner of the San Antonio Spurs Peter Holt and owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves Glen Taylor. Senior vice president and deputy general counsel
Dan Rube rounded up the group.
Just on Friday, it appeared as if there won’t be a meeting between the two sides for some time. The owners had set a precondition for the players to accept a 50/50 split of BRI to convene a meeting, which the players rejected.
Stern had announced earlier that if a deal on the new CBA is not reached by Monday, he will have to cancel the first two weeks of NBA regular season games. That deadline is believed to have forced both sides into action and they
will now engage one more time before the dreaded announcement for cancelling games has to be made.
There are no indications as to what was discussed in the meeting or if any progress has been made, but the fact that both sides are still striving to find a solution can only be seen as a good sign.
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