Seems like I have been writing over and over that a particular day would be a great opportunity for both sides of the NBA's labor disagreement to make a deal. Well we have nearly reached the concrete date that a deal must be done or a portion of the regular season will be cancelled. If there is no labor agreement in place by Monday, then the NBA will cancel the first two weeks of the regular season.
As of right now there are no further talks scheduled between the two sides but there is a strong indication that talks could happen on Sunday. When they last met, both sides were a reportedly $80 million apart on an agreement on how to split revenues. Depending on how you look at it, that could be constituted as an inch or a mile.
There is still time to get the deal done. The question is will it happen? I don't know how anyone can be sure at this point. There is a lot at stake for both sides with the players standing to lose a rumored $200 million if the first two weeks of the season are cancelled. Even worse is that the longer this drags on and the more games that have to be cancelled the more potential there is for other hurdles to jump over to emerge.
So if you have any optimism left that a full NBA season will be played in 2011-12, then Sunday is your day.