After the resumption of talks earlier this week, NBA players and owners have set another meeting next week to continue their dialogue as they try to end the lockout.
Hoop optimists everywhere hope that more talk between the two sides is a good sign.
The realists aren’t necessarily so sure.
But the fact that NBA commissioner David Stern, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, players’ association executive director Billy Hunter and union president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers will meet again indicates that dialogue is taking place.
Sam Amick of SI.com reports that the , with the hopes of better productivity with fewer raised voices in the discussion. It could take place Wednesday or Thursday of next week and it would be only the third head-to-head negotiating session since the lockout started on July 1.
It is not clear if Spurs majority owner Peter Holt, head of the league’s labor relations committee, will participate.
With the beginning of training camps scheduled for later this month and still not yet postponed, Fisher told reporters that “both sides [are] feeling a sense of urgency” to get a deal done.
The owners and players clearly remain far apart. But the fact they weren’t sniping at each other in the media after their most recent meeting is a good sign that helped set up the upcoming one.