Talks resume with eye on Christmas start

The math is simple: NBA commissioner David Stern has said that 30 days are needed between a handshake labor deal and the start of the regular season. So, if the league wants to begin the season on or before Christmas, it has to agree with the players on the framework of a settlement in the next few days. The two sides are at least trying, it appears.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported that the parties resumed talks Tuesday and were expected to continue Wednesday. Howard Beck of The New York Times and SI.com’s Sam Amick confirmed Wojnarowski’s report. A source told Beck that the NBA would play a 66-game season if it can open on Christmas.

It would be fascinating to see who called whom, but sources are mum so far. The players dissolved their union last week and filed a class action antitrust suit against the league, claiming the lockout represents an illegal group boycott and requesting damages equal to triple any missed salaries, court records show. The union, in other words, no longer exists, and the first step to saving the 2011-12 season would be a settlement of the players’ case against the league. That settlement would include the guts of the next collective bargaining agreement, but not the whole thing; the union would have to re-form first for the sides to write and sign a new deal. All involved agree that process could happen in short order, even if the move to the courtroom has added a step or two to the process.

It is unclear who is participating in the current talks, though Wojnarowski reported that Derek Fisher, the former union president, is not involved. That makes sense, since the union does not exist as a bargaining agent for the players. The normal course of business would be for the outside attorneys on either side to contact each other, either directly or through a third party, to kick-start the discussions. The NBA has been represented by Proskauer Rose (Stern’s old firm) and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, but lawyers at both have declined to comment. The league released a statement Wednesday saying only that it supports a negotiated settlement to the union’s case.

The players have longtime outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler and the recently hired duo of David Boies and Jonathan Schiller. All three declined to comment Wednesday.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the now-dissolved union, is also among the players’ outside counsel. But his status as the former union chief makes it difficult for him to be the first one to make a phone call now, according to statements Hunter and Boies gave Monday night. Why? The league filed a preemptive federal lawsuit in August in New York arguing that any move on the union’s part to disband would be a sham name change designed only to allow for an antitrust suit. Having Hunter contact Stern directly could give the impression that the union never really dissolved, thus lending weight to the NBA’s claims, Boies and Hunter said Monday.

The conventional wisdom has always been that a deal won’t happen until the main players meet secretly and quietly, with no media attention. Do these developments qualify? We may find out over the next few days.

SI.com