Lockout Strategy Not Discussed During NBA Owners’ Conference Call

The NBA had its conference call with the team owners yesterday, but interestingly, they didn’t discuss the players’ legal move against them. ESPN reports: “The NBA held a 20-minute conference call Thursday to update its owners on the state of the labor situation, according to an ownership source. Commissioner David Stern spoke to the 29 owners (the NBA still owns the New Orleans Hornets) on what the source described as ‘an update call.’ The owners’ strategy going forward was not discussed and no further meetings or calls were scheduled, either among the owners or with the players’ attorneys, the source said. The source acknowledged that the two sides need to resume negotiations in order to save the 2011-12 season. But the source also added that his gut feeling is that the season will be lost. The lockout entered its 140th day on Thursday. ‘There’s just not enough time,’ the source said. ‘I imagine that another effort (at negotiating) will be made toward the end of December.'”