by MATT GORDON
Staff Writer
NBA commisioner David Stern officially canceled the first two weeks of the upcoming National Basketball Association season on Monday, October 10 after intense negotiations with the NBA Players Association.
After all of the preseason games were cancelled when negotiations stalled, Stern threatened to cancel the first two weeks of the regular season if a deal was not proposed after Monday’s meetings. The two sides met for 12 hours in a span of two days to discuss several concerns that they disagreed on.
At the end of the meetings, there was little movement on the three main concerns: revenue division, the length of the collective bargaining agreement, and salary cap systems such as contract length, percentage of annual raises on contracts, and the luxury tax.
Commissioner Stern said after the meetings, “We remain very, very far apart on virtually all issues. We just have a gulf that separates us. We are so far apart . . . we can’t close the gap.”
Over a week later, on Tuesday, October 18, the two sides met in yet another 16-hour mediation session with a federal mediator. Progress was made in these talks, which is evident through the scheduling of more meetings the next day. ESPN NBA reporter Chris Broussard said that “progress was indeed made” and they talked about “economic issues, system issues, and also some minor issues”. Basketball fans still hold their breath, hoping that no more games will be cancelled and the NBA could still play a shortened, yet still exciting season.