NBA and Player Reps Engage in Settlement Talks

(NewsCore) - Representatives for NBA owners and players have resumed labor talks in a bid to stage a 66-game season that would begin on Christmas Day, the New York Times reported Wednesday, citing league sources.

Talks toward a settlement began Tuesday, and players' attorney Jonathan Schiller released a statement saying preliminary settlement discussions with the NBA would be held Friday, after breaking for Thanksgiving.

The Times report stated that a tip-off before the new year would allow for a compressed season of 66 games -- only 16 fewer than usual -- with the regular season being pushed into late April and the finals postponed by a week.

If a settlement cannot be reached by Friday, the NBA would have no choice but to cancel games through Christmas, the New York Post reported. Games have already been canceled through Dec. 15.

League commissioner David Stern views Christmas Day games as vital from a marketing standpoint as the league in recent years has tried to identify with the holiday, like the NFL is identified with Thanksgiving.

Because the union has dissolved, the talks were being staged between the lawyers, but Stern and players' negotiator Billy Hunter reportedly have joined the discussions.

David Boies, the players' lead attorney, and Hunter have lobbied for days that the sides have to begin talking settlement because it preferred not to go through litigating. Hunter said litigation would "decimate each other."

The players filed two antitrust lawsuits against the NBA last week after negotiations toward reaching a new collective bargaining agreement broke down. The two suits have since been combined into a single suit filed in Minnesota.

The players' lawsuit seeks damages that would amount to triple the losses incurred during the lockout.