Ken Berger raises the point that the institution of a hard salary cap in the NBA would likely require that existing contracts be amended to fit beneath a lower maximum-salary contract figure.

Without exceptions that allow teams to exceed the cap, a team like the Miami Heat would have difficulty fielding a 12-man roster unless the contracts of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are rolled back.

If a hard cap is established under the new CBA, a would-be 2011 free agent like Carmelo Anthony could sign a contract extension during the current season only to have that extension amended and reduced when the new CBA takes effect next summer.  

Many have assumed Anthony would prefer to sign an extension this season to avoid the risk of entering free agency under a new CBA.  But if a hard cap drives down all max salaries -- whether existing or future contracts -- then Anthony would not lose anything by waiting until he becomes a free agent.

Washington Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis indicated on Wednesday that he expects the NBA to implement a hard salary cap.

David Stern cautioned that it is not necessarily true and suggested Leonsis will receive punishment from the league office.

"We're negotiating and that was one of our negotiating points," Stern told The Associated Press, "but collective bargaining is a negotiating process, and that was not something that Ted was authorized to say and he will be dealt with for that lapse in judgment."

In a press release to RealGM and other news outlets, the NBA announced that they have issued a $100,000 fine to Leonsis for his comments.

Chris Tomasson reports from Denver's first day of training camp where Carmelo Anthony spoke to the media.

While acknowledging that the specter of a new collective bargaining agreement is intimidating, Anthony seemed to indicate that any concern about salary will not dictate his decision-making.

"Money is money.  Money's going to be there," Anthony said. "It's about basketball."

"It's a big risk," Anthony said about the new CBA.  "At the end of the day, it's about basketball."

"It?s scary," he said about CBA negotiations.  "Of course, it's scary. There's a lot of anxiety to see what's going to happen."

After the most-watched summer in NBA history, the league has grossed over $100 million of new season-ticket sales for the 2010-2011 season.  

This is a record amount and already gives the league more new full-season-ticket sales than it generated all last season.  

The surge in revenue is certain to be a fact that the players union cites during negotiations with the owners over a new collective bargaining agreement.

The NBA projects overall gate revenue of $1 billion, 75 percent of which comes from season tickets.

The Bulls, Knicks, Heat, Thunder and Magic are the five teams with the highest number of new sales.

Billy Hunter believes that the players' union and the NBA will know which way their negotiations are headed by All-Star Weekend in February.

"I would anticipate that by All-Star, we should know whether there's a likelihood of a deal," Hunter said Wednesday after another bargaining session with the league.

"Progress was definitely made," said Derek Fisher, NBPA president. "There's, at least to me, an optimistic feel to how things are going at this point."

League executive Adam Silver called the process "conciliatory and constructive" but said, "There remains an enormous economic gap between our two proposals."

Silver did not agree with Hunter's notion that All-Star Weekend represents a kind of informal deadline.

"I think deadlines are helpful," Silver said. "I don't necessarily agree that All-Star is a deadline for us. As you know, this deal expires at the end of June. So we view that as the ultimate deadline."

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, the union representing the players, issued a joint press release reporting a positive collective bargaining meeting on Wednesday.

"Today the NBPA and the NBA held another bargaining meeting that was both cordial and constructive," the statement reads.  "We all agreed to continue the dialogue, and during the three-hour meeting, a number of issues were identified that will be addressed in smaller groups leading up to the next bargaining meeting."