Adrian Wojnarowski cites a "growing belief" that David Stern and the NBA league office are losing support among the owners for the current 50-50 proposal that has been made to the players' union.
“A lot of teams – more all the time – don’t like the deal on the table,” said a high-ranking league official.
The union could request certain amendments to the league proposal -- in exchange for which the NBPA would call for an up-or-down vote by the full membership of players -- but Wojnarowski reports that the union does not believe that the NBA would consider any changes to its latest offer.
Over the weekend, the NBA initiated a wide-ranging effort to use social networking and major media to clear up confusion over the terms of its proposal, even drafting a memorandum directly to the players. And Stern again stressed that the owners are unwilling to negotiate any further.
Also, a few B-list issues would still need to be worked out, and could be troublesome, once the main framework of a deal was in place. They relate to contraction, drug testing, D-League assignments and player age for draft eligibility. But these items are not part of the current offer from the NBA that the union will take up Monday morning.