Hawks veteran Maurice Evans said Tuesday NBA players aren't buying commissioner David Stern's recent call for a one-third reduction in salaries.
Stern said last month the NBA wants player costs to drop $750-800 million.
"We definitely don't agree with those numbers," Evans said. "We feel like the game is really at a great place."
Evans, a vice president on the NBA Players Association executive committee, said the two sides may not be able to make any substantial progress in the labor talks until the All-Star break, when all players are available to return to the negotiations.
"If we have a lockout, it's just going to set us back," Evans said.
"With the state the economy is in, fans are not going to want to keep getting slapped in the face with players and NBA teams, as fortunate as we are financially to even be playing a game for a living, to keep throwing it in people's face that we're not making enough money, whether it be the league or whether it be the players."