| NEW YORK (Reuters) - On what
should have been the second day of the NBA season,
negotiators for players and owners met for less time than it takes to play an average NBA
game Wednesday and moved no closer to the end of the 127-day-old lockout. NBA commissioner David Stern said the two sides were "worlds apart"
after a brief bargaining session that quickly disintegrated into accusations and finger
pointing.
Stern criticized union chief Billy Hunter for publicly predicting
after Monday's talks that no games would be played before January. The commissioner also
questioned the influence of agents for the highest-paid players in the union's stand.
Hunter in turn accused Stern of trying to destroy unity among the
union members.
The 53rd NBA season was to start Tuesday with 10 games and another
11 games were scheduled for Wednesday, but the league already has canceled the entire
November schedule.
The central issue that has the talks stalled is the division of
basketball-related income (BRI), which last year amounted to nearly $2 billion.
Hunter insisted that the player agents had nothing to do with the
union's position.
Until Tuesday the NBA had never missed a game due to a labor dispute
in its 52-year history. By wiping out the first four weeks of the season, the NBA has
already canceled 194 games at a cost of $14 million in player salaries per game, according
to Stern. |
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