Basketball
NBA Players' union and league break off labor talks
By Reuters
May 19, 2005, 12:19

TORONTO (Reuters) - Labor talks between the NBA and the NBA Players' Association broke off Wednesday, leaving little hope a new collective bargaining agreement can be reached before the current deal expires on June 30.

Failure to reach a new agreement would open the door for a possible lockout beginning July 1 and a delay to the start of next season.

In a statement the league accused the players' union of changing its position and "backtracking" on several issues that had already been negotiated.

"Since we are at a loss as to how we can possibly reach a new deal that is in any way consistent with the principal terms that we have been discussing for many months, there are no further meetings scheduled at this time," said NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik in a statement.

One of the main stumbling blocks appears to be over the length of contracts.

The league wants to limit the maximum length of contracts from seven to five years.

In a statement, Granik said the representatives of the players' association had met with player agents and later told the league they could no longer accept the five-year limit to contract.

"On April 19, a day after the Players' Association met with a group of player agents, we were informed that the Players' Association could no longer agree to a previously committed five-year rule on length of contracts," said Granik.

"Then, last week, after promising a written proposal to form the basis of a new agreement, the union instead advised us orally that it needed to backtrack on several other essential terms that had already been resolved.

No new talks are scheduled.

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