NBA, union may meet

NEW YORK — If Patrick Ewing and Russ Granik leave town, it may be a sign of progress in the NBA lockout.

Commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter held a secret meeting in Los Angeles on Wednesday, and an NBA spokesman said there “may or may not” be another meeting this weekend.

If there is, Ewing, the union president, and Granik, the deputy commissioner, would be expected to attend.

“We agreed to sit down for a further discussion that might be meaningful, that might go somewhere. Because we both know time is running,” union director Billy Hunter told Fox Sports News. “The fact that we talked is positive because we hadn’t spoken in a week and a half. What we basically did was, we tried to clear up the negative air that had developed over the last week or so.”

Sources on both sides of the talks, speaking on the condition they not be identified, told The Associated Press a deal could be done quickly if the sides agree to swap major concessions.

The union would have to agree to the establishment of a maximum salary for players with more than six years’ of experience, and the league would have to accept the union’s proposed minimum salaries and an additional salary cap exception.

The league has said an agreement must be reached by Jan. 7 to avoid the cancellation of the entire 1998-99 season.

Details of the Los Angeles meeting were scarce, and agent Leonard Armato, who was host of the talks at his office, refused to speak to reporters.

Armato, who represents Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon, has tried to play peacemaker in the past. Earlier this month, he flew to New York and brokered a meeting between Stern and Hunter that turned out to be unproductive.

Stern made no public comments Thursday. His meeting in Los Angeles with Hunter represented their first face-to-face talks since Dec. 12. Afterward, Stern returned to his vacation home in Aspen, Colo., and Hunter went back to Oakland, Calif., to spend Christmas with his family.

“We remain far, far apart on several critical issues,” league lawyer Jeffrey Mishkin said.

The union has already proposed a $10 million limit on the salary any player with less than seven years’ experience could receive in the first year of a new contract. The league, meanwhile, wants the limit to be equal to 25 percent of the salary cap, or about $8 million in the upcoming season.

For older players, the league has proposed a limit of 30 percent of the cap for players in years 7-9, and 35 percent of the cap (no less that $12 million) for players with at least 10 years’ of experience.

The union has offered a luxury tax on the contracts of the highest-paid older players, beginning at $15 million.

On minimum salaries, the league has offered $250,000 for rookies and second-year players, $350,000 for players in years 3-5 and $50,000 increases for each year of tenure thereafter. Nine-year veterans would get a minimum of $550,000, and the salary for anyone with 10 years of experience would jump to $1 million.

The union has asked for a $375,000 rookie minimum and a $500,000 minimum for players in years 2-5. After that, the minimum would increase by $100,000 for each year of service so that, for instance, eight-year veterans would make $800,000, nine-year veterans would make $900,000, etc.

The sides have already agreed to replace the old $1 million exception, which allowed teams that were over the salary cap to sign an extra player every other year, with a new average salary exception that would be available every year. The league has offered a three-year phase-in before the exception would actually be worth the average salary; the union wants no phase-in.

The union also wants an additional exception tied to the mean player salary, which was about $1.3 million last season.

The sides also differ on the percentage of basketball-related income that should be devoted to salaries in the fourth, fifth and sixth years of a six-year agreement. The league wants the percentage cut to 52 percent in 2001-02, while the union has tied some of its concessions to receiving 56 percent. Agreeing on a percentage remains a major impediment to a settlement.

So far, the first 2 1/2 months of the season have been wiped out. If an agreement is reached around Jan. 7, a season of approximately 45-50 games would begin sometime around Feb. 8.

Associated Press