Yahoo Sports: Negotiations May Begin Anew Monday

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

                  NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
                             N E W S
                          Yahoo Sports

NBA labor talks may resume Monday after marathon session

NEW YORK (TICKER) -- The mood of doom that has permeated throughout the NBA
labor talks has finally changed to one of hope.

Marathon talks lasted late into Friday evening and actually yielded some
real progress. Negotiators for NBA owners and players met for more than 12
hours and emerged closer to a deal than at any point during the 143-day
lockout.

"I think what we can say for the first time is we feel we had a productive
day," said NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik. "Unfortunately, we are
still far apart on a lot of issues, but I think we did make some progress,
we got closer together on some of the key issues."

"I can say we made some progress," said Billy Hunter, executive director of
the NBA Players Association (NBPA). "Unfortunately, we still have some way
to go. But the idea of compromise is in the atmosphere."

Given the late hour that talks ended Friday, both sides agreed to take
today off but plan to get back together in the "immediate future."
Negotiators for the players and owners will likely spend the next few days
reporting back to their constituencies. According to Granik, the upcoming
Thanksgiving holiday should not impede the talks.

"We kind of recognized that trying to make this deal as soon as we can
possibly make it is probably more important than any other obligation any
of us have," he continued. "It's not going to be the schedule that hurts
us."

Friday's bargaining session was the first since October 28th. Both sides
agreed that any progress achieved was due to the increased chance of losing
the entire 1998-99 season, a prospect NBA commissioner David Stern
described as a very real possibility.

"There's a slogan, `The sight of the guillotine improves your hearing.' And
I guess maybe we're hearing each other a little better because the
guillotine's being sharpened," Stern said late Friday. "It's too bad it has
to come to this. But I would characterize that we had for us a productive,
cordial meeting."

The 53rd NBA season was to begin November 3rd, but the league already has
wiped out 194 games through the end of the month, the first cancellations
in league history. Even if an accord was reached this weekend, it would
take about a month for teams to sign players and complete training camps.

The sides have been unable to reach a solution on how to divide the
basketball-related income (BRI), which last year was nearly $2 billion. The
league's latest proposal offered a 50-50 split, but the players want no
less than 60 percent. However, indications are that the players may have
come down to 57 percent, the figure they received last season, while owners
have apparently moved up to 52 percent.

"We obviously, to some extent, modified our respective positions," said
Hunter. "We want to have a season, we don't want to see the season go up in
smoke.

"We know there's a certain period of time we have if we're going to have a
season. We also want to minimize the damage, the downside. I think that's
what's setting in more than anything else."

updated at Sat Nov 21 09:34:13 1998 PT

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