David Stern

Five days into this new NBA, there is already a new rivalry . The city of Los Angeles versus David Stern. We don't like each other, not anymore, not one bit, not after the NBA commissioner's misuse of his powers has ripped out the heart of one Los Angeles team and the hopes of the other. Stern is the Boston Celtics with a smug grin. He is the Dallas Mavericks with a weak spine. He wears a suit, but he has shamefully spent the last week as if sitting in a Sacramento cheap seat screaming a chant that can be heard from here to Bourbon Street.

This was not competitive balance. This was chaos. This was not a Lakers team that had been reprimanded. This was a Lakers team that had been rolled. Judging from the surreal scene at the Lakers' first practice Friday, the NBA's weak-kneed commissioner, David Stern, did more than just veto their trade for New Orleans star Chris Paul. He vetoed their strong sense of team, their legendary sense of calm, and even, briefly, Metta World Peace's sense of humor. "I heard what happened, but I'm still lost on the situation," he said, shaking his head.

It took 149 days and countless hours of hand-wringing, but the NBA lockout finally appears to be over. Representatives for owners and players pushed back from the negotiating table after agreeing on the framework of a deal early Saturday morning in New York, creating the foundation for a 66th NBA season. Prospects of an agreement were rocky as recently as last week when the players dissolved their union, but the 2011-12 season was scheduled to start Christmas Day, NBA Commissioner David Stern said.

The prospects for a 2011-12 NBA season might have ended Monday. The 138th day of the NBA lockout failed to land a deal between players and owners, prompting Commissioner David Stern's ominous midday statement that the season was "now in jeopardy. " The players' union began the process of disbanding and filed a "disclaimer of interest" so it could soon deliver a more weighty document — an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA in which players could claim the league conspired to prevent them from marketing themselves and making a living.

David Stern has been active on the airwaves, the Internet and, in a new one, on Twitter, trying to tell fatigued fans and an irritated set of NBA players about the need to sign on the dotted line. Monday is the newest "most important day" of the 138-day NBA lockout. Player representatives for all 30 NBA teams will meet in New York and determine whether they will take the latest offer from NBA owners. A majority of responses from players and their agents indicated there would be a rejection of the proposal that promised a 72-game season starting Dec. 15. A lot has to happen this week for there to be basketball by Christmas.

David Stern repeated the phrase almost a half-dozen times in his Thursday night news conference. "We await the response from the union," the NBA commissioner said, throwing the lockout ball onto the players' court while teasing them with the premise of a possible 72-game season. The owners have made their best offer, Stern implied, and it's up to the players whether there's going to be basketball this season. But Stern might not like the union's response. The early returns show mostly scorn.

Setting the stage for four days of intense contemplation, NBA Commissioner David Stern late Saturday told players they had until the end of Wednesday to accept a deal that would provide them between 49% and 51% of basketball-related income as part of a new collective bargaining agreement. Stern spoke at the end of an 8½-hour negotiating session presided over by federal mediator George Cohen, who made six compromise suggestions to players and owners. Stern said the owners were willing to adopt five of the proposals but that the players' union flatly rejected them.

As the lockout hurtles past the four-month mark, NBA players and owners are no longer battling one another. They're sorting things out among themselves. The players' association scheduled a meeting Thursday in New York to either provide a few details on upcoming negotiation strategy or to bridge a chasm of differences, depending on what you believe. Union officials Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter have sent soothing emails to the NBA's 450 players claiming that they are on the same page, but the fact emails were sent at all signified something needed to be addressed Thursday.

With about 30 locked-out NBA players and union President Derek Fisher by his side after a regional meeting at a Beverly Hills hotel on Friday, union Executive Director Billy Hunter pointedly expressed his and the players' resolve to stand firm in the face of recent threats. Fisher and Hunter even chastised one player for his comments about players maybe wanting to "fold. " NBA Commissioner David Stern had said that if the two sides can't reach an agreement Tuesday, his "gut" tells him they will lose the Christmas Day games.

NBA Commissioner David Stern on Monday canceled the first two weeks of the regular season after a seven-hour negotiating session with locked-out players in New York failed to produce a new labor deal. Stern told reporters there's "no chance" of a full, 82-game schedule as the league announced all games through Nov. 14 are scrapped. This marks the NBA's first work stoppage since a labor dispute shortened the 1998-99 season to a 50-game regular season. "With every day that goes by, there will be further reductions in what's left of the season," Stern said Monday, adding the sides are "very far apart on virtually all issues.