Michele Roberts said the NBA and NBPA are "beginning some very high-level discussions with respect to what the potential issues are," concerning the projected drop in league revenues due to COVID-19.

Roberts also said the laborious process that was necessary for the NBA and the union to hash out how to put the bubble together, and then actually go through the process of doing so, "took just about all of the oxygen out of the room."

Roberts is sure, however, that there won't be discussions about a complete renegotiation of the existing collective bargaining agreement. Either side can opt out of the current agreement by Dec. 15, 2022.

"My preference is that we take care of the only things that we have to take care of, and that is to deal with what presumably is going to be a reduction in revenue of some consequence," she said. "So, no, the notion of accelerating a renegotiation of the CBA, no. That's not something that has been addressed and, I would venture to say, is not going to happen.

"We'll do what we have to do and no more, and then we'll move on."

With the NBA unlikely to play the 20-21 season with fans in the arena and limited fans under the best case scenario, the financial outlook for the league is uncertain and far less promising than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic started in March.

Adam Silver has estimated that approximately 40 percent of the NBA's once-projected $8.4 billion in revenue came from arenas.

"The truth is, things are changing so fast that, when it comes to next season, the best we can do is put a stake in the ground and make a guess," an Eastern Conference team president said. "The reality is nobody is probably going to operate in the black next season.

"The only question is how much each of us are going to lose."

In order to help the league account for the shortfall, the NBA could withhold as much as 20 percent of players' salaries in escrow as opposed to the typical 10 percent.

The NBA and players have agreed to a September deadline for what modifications will need to be made to the collective bargaining agreement to account for the economic realities of the pandemic.

The starting point will be the inverse of the "cap spike" that the NBA faced in 2016. The players rejected "smoothing" the cap and the league didn't push the issue, which resulted in a $24 million spike.

Instead of a steep drop of the cap, the concept would be to keep the cap artificially high for the 20-21 season, potentially around $109 million and achieve the needed 50-50 split by every player taking an equal percentage paycut.

The league withholds 10 percent of players' salaries in escrow currently and sources say one option is to increase the escrow amount to 20 percent for one season.

"Don't think it's lost on any of us that the Warriors could end up benefiting from the cap spike in 2016 and then cap smoothing if we have it in 2020," one general manager said.

Another league executive said, "I agree this concept makes the most sense in the uncertain times we have. But if [smoothing] is where it goes, it does penalize teams who have done better long-term planning."

"In one case, the owners want a loan from the players. And in the other case, the players want a loan from the owners," one prominent agent said. "It will probably end up somewhere in the middle and it will get done after some yelling and posturing."