? Season remains under threat ahead of New York negotiations
? Parties still in disagreement over financial arrangements
NBA owners and players will resume negotiations for a new working agreement on Saturday amid reports that a group of frustrated players want to dissolve their union.
The session in New York City, which will be the first in over a week, comes with the sides far apart in a labour dispute that triggered a lockout on 1 July and forced the NBA to cancel the first month of the regular season.
"I don't know whether it's going to accomplish much, but the only way we can get a deal is by meeting, and that's what we're going to do," the players' union executive director, Billy Hunter, said.
About 50 players, including several NBA All-Stars, want to dissolve the National Basketball Players' Association, paving the way for players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the NBA, according to a report in the New York Times.
That could further jeopardise the 2011-12 season. The 50 players, who comprise about one-ninth of the league's athletes, do not want the union to continue to make concessions to the owners.
The owners, who claim that the NBA lost $300m (�187.1m) last season with 22 of its 30 teams in the red, want the players' share of league revenue ? which was 57% under the prior deal ? reduced to a 50-50 split. They also want a firm salary cap and shorter contracts.
The players offered to reduce their share to 52.5%. Union officials have spent most of this week denying a reported rift between the union president, Derek Fisher, and Hunter.
Both men denied a report that Fisher had attempted to make a deal with the NBA commissioner, David Stern, without the union's knowledge.
National Football League players dissolved their union this year during an 18-week dispute with owners but eventually reached a new collective bargaining agreement after courts ruled the owners' lockout of players was legal.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/04/nba-lockout-union
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