There will be no NBA on Thanksgiving Day but one last push will be made by commissioner David Stern to have a season start on Christmas Day.
Lawyers from the NBA and those representing the players finally started preliminary discussions to try to settle the antitrust lawsuit filed by the players last week. The sides will resume talking tomorrow — which presumably is the deadline for a Christmas Day start.
It seemed a long shot the gulf between the sides can be reached by tomorrow considering there is a dissolved union and a long process to get a collective bargaining agreement ratified and no indication a breakthrough is in the offing.
Players attorney Jonathan Schiller said in a statement there “would be preliminary settlement discussions with the NBA immediately after Thanksgiving with regard to the lawsuit filed recently by the players in Minnesota.’’
Sources have called them “settlement talks’’ but essentially a framework of a CBA would have to be worked out for the players to drop the lawsuit.
Nevertheless, if that can’t be realized, the only hope is tentative parameters for signing free agents for this season could be worked out to end the lockout until a long-term CBA can be hatched in later months, according to an industry source familiar with talks. That is what players attorney David Boies has pushed for since taking over the case last week.
On Tuesday, Billy Hunter said he hoped settlement talks would be mediated by Minnesota judges next week and now there is a head start.
If a settlement can’t be reached by tomorrow, the NBA would have no choice but to cancel games through Christmas. Commissioner Stern views Christmas Day games as vital from a marketing standpoint as the league in recent years has tried to identify the holiday like the NFL is identified with Thanksgiving. These latest talks could be another tool for Stern to promote the notion the NBA on Christmas is an important date, though most fans couldn’t care less if games begin on Dec. 26.
Because the union has dissolved, the talks are being staged between the lawyers, but Stern and Billy Hunter joined discussions yesterday. Players attorneys Boies and Jeffrey Kessler have spoken with NBA lawyers since Tuesday.
Boies, and Hunter have lobbied for days that the sides have to begin talking settlement because it preferred not to go through litigating. Hunter said litigation would “decimate each other.’’
The two sides had stopped talking for a week since the lawsuit was filed, with Stern going silent.
The NBA said yesterday it would not comment on any discussions but stated, “it remains in favor of a negotiated resolution.’’
Hunter gave hints that things were looking up yesterday at a turkey giveaway in Harlem where he told fans not to give up on the season and put pressure on the owners and players to continue talking. Hunter thought that an official settlement conference could take place next week in Minnesota courts.
“It might be easier to reach a deal now than later on,’’ Hunter said. “Because there’s been little passage of time and hasn’t been a major change of circumstance.’’
Hunter said Tuesday he didn’t know what starting positions the sides would be at when they resumed talking about CBA specifics. The way it was left, the league’s last offer called for a 50-50 revenue split with several restrictions on free-agent spending for mid-level players for teams who were paying luxury tax.