NBA And Players Union Schedule Last-Attempt Meeting Sunday

News9.com

NEW YORK- NBA officials and members of the players union have scheduled a last-minute, last-chance meeting Sunday in hopes of reaching an agreement to end the lockout before regular-season games are cancelled.

The New York Times reports that NBA Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver will meet with union president Derek Fisher and executive director Billy Hunter Sunday night in a final attempt to end the lockout.

Tuesday Commissioner Stern said that the league would cancel the first two weeks of the regular season Monday Oct. 10 if there was not a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. Stern also proposed a 50-50 deal that would evenly split the league revenues that the union rejected.

Friday the NBA players association claimed it would meet with the NBA to resume negotiations before Monday's deadline but when Hunter made the offer in a phone call with top league officials he "was told a meeting would require the precondition of accepting the 50-50 deal." Thus, according to the two sources, the union rejected that stance saying they will not negotiate under any preconditions.

The New York Times also reports that "it is not clear whether the league has moved off of its 50-50 proposal, or whether the union has softened its insistence on receiving 53 percent of league revenues in a new collective bargaining agreement" but says that it is possible that the two sides "are negotiating other, structural issues in an attempt to move forward."

The NBA Lockout began July 1 as the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA owners and the National Basketball Player's Association ended and the two sides failed to agree on a myriad of issues.

Because no agreement has been reached, the league has already cancelled all preseason games.

Related Story: NBA Officially Cancels 2011-12 Preseason