The league office fined Heat owner Mickey Arison $500,000 for Friday comments he made on Twitter.

Arison seemed to disagree with the formal negotiating position of his fellow owners, and the league executives who are negotiating directly with the union, on their insistence that the players accept no more than 50% of basketball-related income.  

Arison later deleted the controversial statements.

Sources within the front office of teams believe the NBA's labor leaders should adopt a more conciliatory tone to reach agreement on a new deal.

“This is getting a little ridiculous,” said one. “The longer this drags out, I think we’re going to have to deal with some serious resentment when this thing does end.”

If the NBA league office and union come to an agreement over the next week, sources predict that the NBA could reconstitute the schedule to play 78 games.  

This would cut only four games from the schedule or about one week's worth of games.  The number of scheduled games must be an even number.

Presumably the four games that are lost would be against teams in the opposite conference.

Even though labor talks broke apart on Friday, a new deal is 95 percent complete.

The NBA owners and the players union have agreed on contract lengths and luxury-tax rates, trade rules and cap exceptions, as well as several provisions lesser-known to casual fans such as "amnesty" and "base-year compensation."

In real terms, the NBA and NBPA are separated by 2.5 percent of BRI and $100 million per year. At one point, the sides were separated by 20 percent and hundreds of millions per year.

The final deal will, by any objective measure, heavily favor the owners when compared with deals reached in 1999 and 2005.

A random NBA fan wrote on Twitter a message directed at Heat owner Micky Arison.

"Fans provide all the money you're fighting over," wrote the fan.

"Honestly u r barking at the wrong owner," replied Arison on his Twitter feed.

Arison has been categorized by NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter as part of a group of owners eager to reach a deal with the players.

Even though the math says the NBA players are leaving money on the table for the current season that they will never get back, they appear to realize that holding firm for a favorable deal is about the future.

"Players know that they'll never see 57% again," wrote ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "If they go to 50, they never see 52.5 again. This about setting standards for the future."

McMenamin's comments have been Re-Tweeted several times, including by Kevin Durant.

Billy Hunter said the NBA dropped their offer to 47 percent of basketball-related income.

The owners claim to have moved to 50 percent, but they have made that move during two previous bargaining sessions.

"[Stern] snookered me. ... He made a move. He went to 47," said Hunter.

The NBA and NBPA are also at odds on system issues.

"We did what [Stern] said [he] needed and it was like their eyes got bigger," said Hunter. "They just wanted more and more." 

The NBA announced today that it has canceled all games through November 30 because a new collective bargaining agreement has not been reached with the National Basketball Players Association.

"We share the frustrations of our fans, partners, and those who rely on our game for their livelihoods,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We remain committed to reaching an agreement that's fair for both the teams and the players and allows for the long-term growth of our game.”

With talks breaking down on Friday, sources say David Stern will cancel more regular season games.

There was a newfound optimism this week that the NBA would reach agreement on a deal soon enough to salvage a full 82-game regular season.

The NBA had already canceled the first two weeks of the regular season.

After a five-hour session on Friday, the NBA and NBPA ended talks without reaching agreement on a new labor deal.

According to sources, talks broke off in part because of the inability for the sides to reach a compromise on the split of basketball-related income.

The players were reportedly unwilling to come down from their position of receiving 52% of BRI.

No further meetings are scheduled at this point.