NBA camps postponed, preseason games lost
Los Angeles Lakers' Derek Fisher, center, president of the NBA players union, is joined by NBA players, union executive director Billy Hunter, right, and and other NBA players during a news conference in Las Vegas. (Sept. 15, 2011) Credit: AP
The NBA announced Friday that training camps for its 30 teams, which were scheduled to open Oct. 3, have been "postponed indefinitely" as a result of the ongoing lockout. The league also canceled preseason games that were scheduled for Oct. 9-15.
That accounts for 43 games, including three for the Knicks, who were scheduled to open the preseason Oct. 11 in Philadelphia. Five preseason games remain on the Knicks' schedule. The NBA regular season is scheduled to begin Nov. 1.
"We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games," deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement released by the league. "We will make further decisions as warranted."
The announcement was made by the league Friday morning after commissioner David Stern addressed the NBA's negotiating committee.
Stern and Silver met with the union's leadership -- executive director Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher -- Thursday in Manhattan in a five-hour bargaining session that did not result in a compromise or even the hint of progress. Though there has been some reported movement in an agreement on the revenue split, the sides remain at odds over the salary-cap system. Stern has insisted that a hard cap system must be included in any new deal; Hunter says the union is opposed to a hard cap.
Both, however, have agreed to continue discussions, with a formal meeting expected next week.
At this point, as each week passes without an agreement, more cancellations will be made.
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