NBA Lockout Labor Talks: Optimism of New Deal Between Players, Owners Fades After Meeting

The NBA labor talks surrounding the NBA lockout looked to possibly be on track to getting resolved after a meeting Tuesday between players and owners in New York.

But on Wednesday, the good vibes surrounding a potential turning point faded quickly after another session.

On one side, NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter told reporters the two sides are still pretty far apart. On the other, NBA commissioner David Stern said told reporters that the two sides were not near a deal.

On the bright side, the sides have set up a larger meeting in New York on Friday, and also suggested that meetings could ensue through the weekend.

Hope emerged from Tuesday's session, with a Yahoo! Sports report suggesting that owners had budged on their desire for a hard cap and were willing to implement a similar luxury tax system that existed under the previous labor agreement.

Still, skepticism reigned over the optimism. One source told Yahoo! that the system the owners wanted enforced more penalties for going over the cap and that it had the effects of a hard cap.

The other contentious issue that did not appear on track to getting resolved was the revenue split of basketball-related income percentage (BRI). Under the previous agreement, players received a 57 percent split of BRI. They have agreed to lower that to 53 to 54 percent, according to reports, while the owners want to drop them to the mid-40s.

And on Wednesday, the contentious nature of those issues crept back into focus.

Time is running out, Hunter told reporters after Wednesday's meeting. The owners have their views, and we have our views.

After the meeting, Stern implicitly suggested to the New York Post that if an agreement was not close after this weekend, enormous consequences will occur.

The NBA regular season is scheduled to start Nov. 1. The NBA has already canceled the first two weeks of training camp and preseason games.