NBA, players still talking about new deal as deadline looms
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says he’s hopeful that a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players can get done by the end of this week, though he stopped short of predicting that a deal would actually get struck. The league and the National Basketball Players Association are facing a midnight Friday deadline for either side to decide that they will opt out of the deal and end the current CBA on June 30. That opt-out deadline already has been extended twice, and Silver said the NBA’s plan is to exercise that option if there is no deal by Friday night.