NBA Lockout Talks Now Featuring More Discussion Than BRI Split

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The NBA lockout talks have been going on for 91 days as of Friday morning and, for the most part, it has seemed the only things the owners and NBA Players Association have talked about revolve around the "blood issue" of a hard cap and the split of BRI, short for Basketball Related Income. Fortunately, though, it seems that there have also been other factors being bandied about inside the negotiating room.

The two sides have put numerous other concessions on the table, according to ESPN's Marc Stein, with the proposed "Supertax" being the issue that would essentially replace the current hard cap that the players are so set against. The other issues would limit the length of guaranteed contracts, changes to the current system of Larry Bird Rights and the previously mentioned salary rollbacks and amnesty clause that was included in the last Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Below, a list of issues that Stein has learned should be discussed this weekend as the two sides meet in what seems to be an almost make-or-break negotiating session.

•  The institution of a sliding "Supertax" that would charge teams $2 in luxury tax for every dollar over $70 million in payroll, $3 for every dollar over $75 million in payroll and $4 for every dollar for teams with payrolls above $80 million
• A provision to allow each team to release one player via the so-called "amnesty" clause and gain both salary-cap and luxury-tax relief when that player's cap number is removed from the books
• Shortening guaranteed contracts to a maximum of three or four seasons
• Limiting Larry Bird rights -- which enable teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents -- to one player per team per season
• Reducing the annual mid-level exception, which was valued at $5.8 million last season, to roughly $3 million annually and limiting mid-level contracts to a maximum of two or three seasons in length as opposed to the current maximum of five seasons
• A new "Carmelo Rule" that would prevent teams -- as the New York Knicks did in February with Anthony -- from using a Bird exception to sign or extend a player acquired by trade unless they are acquired before July 1 of the final season of the player's contract
• The abolition of sign-and-trades and the bi-annual exception worth $2 million
• Significant reductions in maximum salaries and annual raises and a 5 percent rollbacks on current contracts

It's worth noting that the proposed "Carmelo Rule" wouldn't have actually applied to the Anthony trade this past season between the Knicks and Denver Nuggets (hat tip to SB Nation's Tom Ziller for pointing that out). Anthony was still under contract for an extra season, thanks to his player option, meaning that his three-year extension upon signing in New York would have been allowed under the current rules.

It would be nice if the talks also extend to things not involving money this weekend. Regardless, the sooner the deal is done, the better -- especially if it saves the entirety of the NBA's regular season.