David Stern

NBA Commissioner David Stern said he and a small group of negotiators met Monday in New York to "set the table" for a larger meeting Tuesday that will probably determine whether the remainder of the exhibition schedule will be scrapped. The league's lockout of its players is moving toward the 100-days mark, with the scheduled Nov. 1 season-opening games in jeopardy. "A lot of signs point to [Tuesday] being a very important day," Derek Fisher, the Lakers point guard and players' union president, told reporters Monday.

A nearly five-hour labor meeting between NBA owners and players, including superstars Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, closed Friday with uncertainty over whether games at the start of the regular season would be canceled. Talks are scheduled to resume in New York on Saturday at 7 a.m. Pacific time. Derek Fisher, players union president and Lakers point guard, told reporters that no new proposals were exchanged during a sometimes contentious but "engaging" session that included NBA Commissioner David Stern and a dozen owners.

The NBA's players and owners will resume labor negotiations Friday in New York and agreed to meet throughout the weekend if they find enough reasons to keep the conversation going, urgency finally kicking in as the window rapidly closes to complete a deal and start the season on time Nov. 1. Training camp had been scheduled to start Monday, but that was scrapped last week, along with 43 exhibition games through Oct. 15. No one will miss those weeks...

NBA Commissioner David Stern and players' representatives met for two hours Tuesday in New York and said they would have another negotiating session Wednesday as the league's lockout of players nears three months. Stern told reporters both sides "spent some quality time discussing concepts and we agreed that it would be good if we went back to our offices, talked amongst ourselves and reconvened tomorrow. " No firm proposals were exchanged, said Stern and Players' Assn. President and Lakers guard Derek Fisher.

Staff writer Helene Elliott ranks the sports commissioners: David Stern, NBA Still The Man, though the NBA has hit some potholes. Stern imposed the lockout to overhaul an economic system he says led 23 of 30 teams to lose money. Barring a quick agreement, the opening of training camps in early October will be jeopardized as will an on-time Nov. 1 season start. "I see him trying to make financial sense out of a game that's not making financial sense anymore. He'll endure the criticism and he'll endure whatever it takes to fix the game," said Bill Sutton, associate director and professor in the DeVos Sport Business Program at the University of Central Florida.

Roger Goodell led the NFL through a lockout without losing regular-season games and with a minimum of acrimony, ensuring labor peace for a decade. David Stern saved the NBA after it had lost its appeal and financial footing. Bud Selig, awkward on camera, is savvy enough behind the scenes to have helped Major League Baseball enjoy a long period of labor harmony. Everyone's kid has played soccer, but MLS Commissioner Don Garber is still trying to turn participants into paying customers.

The NBA and representatives of its players' union met for six hours Wednesday in New York, with Commissioner David Stern promising more "meetings and meetings" through September to try to resolve the lockout that threatens the upcoming season. Stern told reporters there's "clearly enough time" to strike a new labor agreement that would allow the NBA's regular season to start on time Nov. 1. The meeting in Manhattan was the second between the sides since the lockout took effect July 1. Players' association President Derek Fisher of the Lakers told reporters after Wednesday's session that the union had not changed its "philosophical stance" on issues and added that "both sides [are]

In what could be a bigger threat to its season than football's current labor stoppage, the NBA imposed a lockout of players at 9:01 p.m. Pacific time Thursday. "We didn't see any options," NBA Commissioner David Stern told reporters earlier Thursday after a three-hour meeting between owners' representatives and union leaders in New York failed to produce a new collective bargaining agreement. "I don't think we're closer," Stern said. "We have a huge philosophical divide. " "Owners might think this is the best way to get what they want.

With the clock ticking toward the expiration of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement June 30, Commissioner David Stern on Tuesday announced owners have backed off slightly from their prior demand for a fixed salary cap. The significance of that move didn't impress Lakers guard Derek Fisher, president of the National Basketball Players Assn., who said after meetings in New York that "we're still just really far apart on the largest issue of...

A funny thing happened on the way to the apocalypse. No, it wasn't Carmelo Anthony's saying "I had fun," after scoring 42 points in the game of his life at Boston . . . as the Knicks went down, 0-2, on their way to 0-3. This involves labor, where, as everyone knows, doom waits just over the horizon. In the first good news for you holdouts who think there's a chance they'll play 70 games next season . . . Oh, no one thinks that? Actually, I do, or did, until some GM types, who thought they'd be back playing by Dec. 1, began saying it might be more like Dec. 1, 2012.