Top league and players' union officials met to discuss a resolution to the NBA lockout on Thursday, talking for the second straight day and third time in eight days. The result: an agreement to hold additional talks. According to reporters on the scene via Twitter, NBA commissioner David Stern announced that the full labor committees from the league and union will meet Tuesday in New York City.
From USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt:
Reason for larger group meetings? Larger parties are "ultimately responsible for making a deal or deciding that there shouldn't be a deal," Stern said.
Just the top officials from each side had been meeting in recent sessions. Those talks have included Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, National Basketball Players Association director Billy Hunter, the Los Angeles Lakers' Derek Fisher and a couple of top attorneys. The full committees to assemble on Tuesday include more team owners and player representatives.
The NBA locked out its players on July 1 after failing to reach an agreement with the union on a new collective bargaining agreement in talks over the past two years. In 1998, the NBA began canceling preseason games when it did not have an agreement as of September 24. The season didn't begin until January 1999, and then on an abbreviated schedule.
The 2011-12 NBA season is scheduled to begin November 1.