by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
The good news is that the NBA hasn’t cancelled any more games, as previously feared. Not yet, anyway.
Even better, the owners and players are set to resume negotiations today in New York, according to several media reports.
Newsday has the details:
The NBA and its players union will go back to the negotiating table Wednesday for yet another attempt to resolve their differences in collective bargaining and end the four-month lockout. A person with knowledge of the situation told Newsday that the sides will get together in Manhattan to resume talks that broke down last Thursday after three days of mediation. It is not known if the NBA has dropped its precondition that the union agree to a 50-50 split of league revenue, which was what union executive director Billy Hunter said led to the owners abruptly ending what had been viewed as constructive talks presided over by federal mediator George Cohen.
The source said Cohen, who issued a terse statement of surrender after mediation failed last week, will not re-join the parties Wednesday. But commissioner David Stern, who missed last Thursday’s talks because of the flu, is expected back at the table. A league official said Stern was home through the weekend, but returned to his office Monday.
It’s important to remember that cancelling any more games at this point is an exercise in futility; the schedule as originally conceived is now completely worthless.
Assuming (foolishly, perhaps) that these renewed talks between the two sides lead to a deal soon, it will be interesting to see if the League can manage to somehow still squeeze in an 82-game season.
