NBA Lockout: League Must Get Deal Done This Week to Save 82-Game Season

WOW. We may actually have an 82-game NBA season this year.

I can honestly say I did not expect this whatsoever, but it seems that during one of those 15-hour labor talks, something actually happened.

The players and owners have been pulling these marathon-negotiating sessions for weeks now but nothing of value has come out of them.

However, the most recent one, which started at noon on Wednesday and went into the wee hours of this morning, is being described by various sources close to the talks as fruitful.

One source went as far as saying “At this rate, the lockout will be over by the end of next week at the latest.”

While that may be optimistic sounding, David Stern himself commented at the press conference echoing the aura of positivity that is surrounding these latest talks.

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“We just finished a solid day of negotiations,’’ Stern said at a post-meeting press conference. “We did such a good job, we’re going to do it again (Thursday) at 2 p.m. We hope to use (Thursday‘s) session to continue building upon the progress we made today.’’

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There is even talk that the league could have an 82-game schedule again this year if they can get the deal through soon.

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FOX Sports has learned that in order for that to happen, the season must tip off no later than Dec. 1. According to sources, a December start to the season would require a deal to be in place no later than the middle of next week.

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Derek Fisher, representative of the players, expressed cautious optimism.

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“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.”

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I’m going to go ahead and ignore Derek Fisher, I think they get this deal done and we have an 82-game season starting December 1^st. I can’t wait.