Progress Toward Avoiding NBA Lockout Seemingly Made In Latest Meeting Of Union, Owners

The NBA's owners and players' union continued to make progress on a new labor agreement Tuesday after a nearly four-hour session in New York City. The sides exchanged proposals and will meet again on Friday. The biggest move in Tuesday's session came with the league's proposal for not a hard cap, but a flex cap.

It's unclear, however, whether a flex cap isn't just a hard cap with a new name. Ken Berger of CBS Sports reports that union officials are skeptical the owners have made a real great concession here.

Billy Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers, and executive committee member Chris Paul of the Hornets, however, minimized the owners' gesture as simply another version of a hard cap - which Hunter reiterated was a "blood issue" for the union.

Nevertheless, things look a lot better Tuesday than they did Monday. That's been a theme of the labor talks, which is a complete shock. Team representatives to the union will meet Thursday in New York to discuss the NBA's latest proposal. The sides will bargain again on Friday, and the league's owners will meet Tuesday. The current collective bargaining agreement it set to expire a week from Thursday.