NBA labour talks reach critical juncture; meeting scheduled for Friday – Lockout News
NBA labour talks have entered a crucial phase, according to all parties involved, as time to save the season winds down incessantly.
The owners and players met for the second consecutive day on Wednesday in New York and came out predicting “make or break” weekend.
The talks, which went on for around four hours, followed on from a two hour session on Tuesday. Although neither side would say if any progress was made, they both sent out a similar message; time is almost out.
The NBA already cancelled its training camps, which were scheduled to begin on October 3, last Friday, along with 43 pre-season games. Some analysts and senior agents had suggested before the talks, that if the league start was to be delayed, it could also spell doom to the whole season.
David Stern, the NBA Commissioner, came out with a similar message after Wednesday’s session.
"There are enormous consequences at play here on the basis of the weekend," Stern said. "Either we'll make very good progress and ... we know how good that would be. Or we won't make any progress and then it won't be a question of just starting the season on time. There will be a lot at risk."
The NBA players union was principally represented by Executive Director Billy Hunter and President Derek Fisher at the meeting. Fisher, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers as a point guard, also warned of a delay in the season’s start, but stopped short of saying that the whole season was at risk.
"It points to the realities that we face with our calendar. If we can't find a way to get some common ground really, really soon, then the time of starting the regular season at its scheduled date is going to be in jeopardy big-time."
The meeting was once again attended by rather small groups on both sides. Deputy Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, said that wasn’t a good sign. The two parties had hoped that by this stage enough progress would have been made to allow for a larger contingent of NBA players and owners to sit across the table and hammer out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA.
As things stand, that isn’t the case. The league instead finds itself on the verge of a delayed start for only the second time in its long history. The consequences of that could be very negative, and very long lasting, especially keeping in view the rise in popularity the NBA had enjoyed last season.
The hopes for a decisive breakthrough are now pinned on the meeting scheduled for Friday. Both sides are expected to make some serious concessions due to the importance of the meeting, but, whether those concessions would be enough remains to be seen.
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