by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
The latest round of NBA labor talks lasted over 12 hours, as David Stern’s doomsday deadline was brushed aside, and some progress was said to have been made.
Now, what “progress” truly means when it comes to this lockout, is anyone’s guess.
Though both sides remained stoic and largely non-committal about the talks (despite some funny technical issues), according to the reporters staked out at the hotel where these talks took place, the fact that the players’ union and owners will meet again today is an encouraging sign.
From the NY Times:
The talks ended around 1 a.m. Thursday and will resume at noon. “The fact that we don’t have a deal obviously let’s you know that there’s still a lot of work to be done on the system,” said Derek Fisher, the players union president. “We’re going to meet again tomorrow to give it our best effort, but we’re not sure if that will be enough.”In theory, the players were working against an ultimatum: to accept the N.B.A.’s most recent proposal by 5 p.m. Wednesday, or have it replaced by a significantly worse offer. But once talks resumed, the parties effectively “stopped the clock,” Commissioner David Stern said.
Failure to reach a deal in the next day or so could still trigger the N.B.A.’s “reset” proposal, which would threaten the rest of the season. But as long as talks continue, there is hope on both sides that a deal can be struck, and the four-month lockout resolved. “I would not read into this optimism or pessimism,” Stern said. “We just continue to negotiate as we continue to negotiate.” He added, “We’re not failing, and we’re not succeeding.”
Though the level of optimism about the lockout (now 133 days old) ending soon has been slightly raised, there remains quite a bit to work on the system issues to iron out between players and owners.
We’ll know more about what progress — if any — was made following today’s round of talks.
