After meeting for more than five hours on Thursday, the National Basketball Association remains without a solution to the labor negotiations as preseason games and training camps are set to begin.
The talks have reached a stalemate, as neither side could work out a new deal for the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap. While owners claim the league’s labor structure causes huge financial losses and filed suit last month, claiming unfair bargains by the players, others say the owners’ labor proposal hurts the players’ revenues as well.
The upcoming season is in jeopardy, as players have been locked out since July 1 after the most recent labor deal expired. Forty-three preseason games have been canceled and training camp, originally set to begin Oct. 3, has been postponed indefinitely.
In a statement to CBS Money Watch, NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said, “We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games. We will make further decisions as warranted.”
Still, both sides said they hope to meet next week and resolve the dispute by the end of the month or early October to avoid cancelling more games.
