First two weeks of Regular Season likely to be cancelled?

ESPN's Chris Broussard:
The NBA and its locked-out players are unlikely to meet again before Monday, almost assuring the first two weeks of regular-season games will be canceled...

Sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard that the union asked for the meeting, and the owners agreed -- on the condition the players agree to a 50-50 split of basketball-related income. When the union rejected that stance, the owners said there was no need to meet, the sources said.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed to ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that the owners are sticking to the 50-50 revenue split. But he said it was the players, not the owners, who declined to meet.

"We told the union today that we were willing to meet as early as Sunday," Frank said. "We also advised them that we were unwilling to move above the 50-50 split of revenues that was discussed between the parties on Tuesday but that we wanted to meet with them to discuss the many remaining open issues. The union declined."

As a result, the first two weeks of the season will almost certainly be canceled.

Union president Derek Fisher stayed in New York and apparently the union is optimistic they will meet with the owners one more time. Still, no further talks are scheduled and by all accounts it seems like both sides are willing to miss the season if need be.

There's reason to remain optimistic though, according to CBS' Ken Berger:


As the two sides saber-rattle their way into the next meeting -- whenever that might be -- I leave you with this quote from Friday's column in which a team executive tries to predict what happens next.

"You don't walk away from a deal that close to being done," the executive said. "You posture, you draq your heels, you pontificate, you demean the other side, you invoke all the evils in the world. But you don't walk away. Something's got to pop soon."

That's where we are. Get ready for some first-class hand-wringing, foot-stopping, finger-pointing and fireworks. That's how you know this is almost over.

Most are expecting a deal to be reached sooner rather than later, so there's reason to hold on to hope.