Some insiders believe the offer from the players to lower their share of basketball-related income from 57 percent to 52 percent is a good sign in negotiations.

Former NBA Players Association executive director Charles Grantham is 16 years removed from his position, but he has special insight into the current labor negotiations and feels positive about the possibility of a full season.

“I saw this week as a sign of progress, not one of dismay,’’ said Grantham, who was NBPA executive director from 1978-95. “This is sort of a concessionary negotiation because the owners have obviously made timeless claims that they are losing substantial sums of money and the union has settled in on the fact there are teams that are facing losses.

“One of the things said in the last negotiations was that the players were willing to take substantially less. From a negotiation standpoint, the major, major piece of this puzzle relates to how much or what share of $1 will go to the players. After the last year and half, they have finally gotten to the point where they are saying, ‘OK we recognize that there’s some loss here and we’re willing to take less.’ And that’s a significant step.’’

Grantham pointed out that the average NBA salary has increased tenfold over the past two decades and the players could potentially negotiate slower growth in salaries but perhaps a payback in the new collective bargaining agreement if the owners earn a specified amount.

“The agents are out there making that [decertification] noise because their business has been negatively impacted over this last decade,’’ said Grantham, who negotiated four collective bargaining agreements during his tenure. “Because the more wage scales you have and restrictions on salaries . . . players are far more educated today, they are not going to pay a fee when in fact it’s a fixed salary.’’