For a brief moment, it looked like everything might end up working out just fine. Heading into Friday's negotiation talks between the NBA and the players union, commissioner David Stern said he was feeling positive, and that progress would be made. When all was said and done, however, the talks had broken up early. The executive director of the union, Billy Hunter, was quoted as saying that the commissioner had "snookered" him into believing that the owners were willing to make certain concessions.
The main divide at this point appears to be basketball-related income. The players have conceded a lower percentage of BRI than they were asking for at the start of the lockout, in exchange for the owners changing some of their policies dealing with things like luxury taxes and guaranteed contracts. (Via Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports)
Mark Medina of the LA Times noted that in the aftermath of the talks breaking down, NBA TV stuck to their discussion of the 1993 NBA Finals. Similarly, NBA.com opted not to show the press conference held by the players union. Some experts are predicting that the sides will get right back to work, but Steve Aschburner, a national NBA writer, noted that Derek Fisher was flying out of Los Angeles Friday night, which indicates an effective stall in further negotiations at this point.
Commissioner David Stern is expected to announce more game cancellations as early as this evening. You can bet that there will be a lot more news coming in the next few days about the latest breakdown in talks.
If you are interested in keeping your finger on the pulse of how the local fan is reacting to all of this, head over to Golden State Of Mind.