Hope for NBA deal after 15-hour talks

A 15-hour negotiation that ended at 3 a.m. this morning led both sides of the NBA labor dispute to smile, talk of significant progress, and acknowledge the possibility of reaching a deal by Sunday or Monday.

They will reconvene at 2 p.m. today to try to get closer to a deal, with commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter even suggesting the scant hope of salvaging an 82-game season. The season opener, if a deal is reached Sunday, probably wouldn't be until Dec. 1.

The second-longest negotiation during this labor war had its best day, and Stern and Hunter seemed either happy or just punch drunk when they met the media at separate press conferences in the wee hours at the Waldorf Astoria.

Progress was made just on system issues regarding the salary cap, luxury tax and length of guaranteed contracts. The revenue-split stalemate, both sides said, was not discussed.

But the rhetoric was a 180-degree turn from Thursday’s federal-mediation breakdown, and Stern didn’t once talk of cancelling more games this week. Stern already cancelled the first two weeks of the season, which was to begin in five days, and was on the verge of cancelling games up to Nov. 29.

“We just finished a solid day of negotiations,’’ Stern said in his opening statement. “We did such a good job, we’re going to do it again (today) at 2 p.m. We hope to use (today’s) session to continue building upon the progress we made today.’’

"This has been a very arduous and difficult day, and productive,’’ Stern added. “Tomorrow is going to be just as arduous and difficult, if not more so. We hope that it can be as productive.’’

Union president Derek Fisher, last seen calling the ownership committee “liars," expressed cautious optimism.

“I can't say major progress was made. But progress was made on key issues in the system, enough for us to come back tomorrow. We’re going to go as long and as hard as we possibly can to get a deal done,’’ Fisher said. “But we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves.’’