NBA Lockout: Refusal To Meet Signals Step in Wrong Direction

People looking for good news about the NBA Lockout might as well stop reading now, because you aren't going to see it here.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports via Twitter that the meeting between the NBA owners and NBPA isn't even likely to take place.

Friday, October 7 at 6:24 p.m. EDT

Three minutes later, he added this:

Friday, October 7 at 6:45 p.m. EDT

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports added this from Andre Iguodala through Wojnarowski:

In other words, there is really no reason to be optimistic. At this point, it would be nothing short of a minor miracle for the regular season to start on time.

Considering how far apart these sides are, how little progress has been made and the lack of desperation that both sides seem to have, the chances are getting better that this will be a repeat of the 50-game 1999 season, if not worse.

In the NFL lockout, both sides had a big reason to want to get a deal done before games were missed. Every game brings a tremendous amount of money to the NFL (players and owners), and missing a game means missing out on one-tenth of the total revenue for the home team.

Now, because players do have international options and because many owners are also NHL owners that experienced and survived the complete 2004-2005 season, there doesn't seem to be willingness to compromise from either side.

In negotiations, if you don't have willingness to compromise, then you don't have anything. It's becoming more and more likely that we'll be lucky to get a repeat of what we saw in 1999.

Even the most optimistic of people are predicting that this lockout will extend beyond the holiday season.

Frankly, there is always some hope, and everyone who says that (myself included) wants to be wrong, but it just doesn't seem like we're headed down that road.

One of the best, most exciting postseasons that we have ever seen is likely going to be the last basketball we see for a while.

If I am wrong, I'll be happy. But based on what I am hearing, I just don't see that happening.