Representatives from the NBA and players' union met for six hours on Wednesday.

The meeting in Manhattan was just the second between the sides since the lockout took effect July 1.

Derek Fisher told reporters afterward that the union had not changed its “philosophical stance” on issues and added that “both sides [are] feeling a sense of urgency” to strike a deal, with training camp just more than a month away.

David Stern told Sports Illustrated, “We don’t have any deadlines in mind. We just have meetings in mind.”

The most powerful brokers of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement will meet Wednesday in what will be the most significant negotiation to date of the 2011 lockout.

“This is a telltale meeting,” said agent Billy Duffy. “I think we will know the seriousness of both sides’ position after Wednesday.

“I don’t think the season starts on time. There really has been no progress. The union has been patient on hoping there would be movement on the league side. The league hasn’t demonstrated any movement whatsoever while the union is flexible.”

Most players won’t begin losing paychecks until after the regular season starts in November, but a prolonged work stoppage won’t be good for either side, Duffy said.

“The league is also grossly underestimating the negativity that comes with a stoppage,” Duffy said. “There are some clubs that won’t miss a beat after a lockout. But there are other clubs that could lose their fans and sponsor base pretty easily with a lengthy lockout.”

The NBA and NBPA will have a high-level collective bargaining agreement meeting on Wednesday.

Commissioner David Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, and San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, who leads the labor relations committee, will take part, as will players’ association executive director Billy Hunter, union president Derek Fisher of the Lakers and union counsel Ron Klempner, two people told the Associated Press yesterday on condition of anonymity.

The two sides last met on August 1st.

During the NBA lockout, the players are striving to be better at public relations than they were in 1998.

“It was a huge emphasis,” Derek Fisher, the president of the National Basketball Players Association, said in a telephone interview. “The reality is, we’re in a great position, where guys have worked to put themselves in this place where they can potentially earn millions of dollars.”

Kenny Anderson presented his finances to the New York Times during the 1998 lockout that became a lighting rod for criticism when he spoke of getting rid of one of his Mercedes.

Patrick Ewing, NBPA President at the time, famously said that professional athletes "make a lot of money, but they also spend a lot of money."

“We haven’t had a Kenny Anderson moment,” one player advocate said.

A high-level meeting of top negotiators for both the players and owners will take place next week, a person with knowledge of the meeting confirmed to CBSSports.com on Thursday.

The plan is to limit the number of people in the room, with commisioner David Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, union chief Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher, the person said. Also possibly in attendance could be Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the owners' labor relations committee.

The two sides want to limit the amount of attention given to the talks.

Operators of NBA owners could miss more than $1 billion in ticket revenue if the 11-12 season is cancelled.

“Most all the dates would go unfilled,” former Portland Trail Blazers President Steve Patterson wrote in an e-mail.

The NBA’s 30 teams generated more than $1.1 billion in gate receipts during the 2010-11 campaign.

Booking big-name musicians would be 'impossible' to replace for a 41-game home schedule.

Bob Gutkowski, former president at MSG, home of the Knicks and Rangers, said the basketball team generates at least $1 million in ticket revenue per game.

The worst scenario for arena operators is to have their building dark,” said Rob Tilliss, founder of Inner Circle Sports.

Impact Basketball will host a pro league in mid-September with rosters entirely comprised of professional players. Nearly 70 NBA players are expected to participate

Chauncey Billups, John Wall, Paul Pierce, Al Harrington, Corey Maggette, Kyle Lowry, Paul George, J.J. Hickson, Austin Daye, Jared Dudley, Dahntay Jones, Jermaine O’Neal, Craig Brackins, Marreese Speights, Eric Bledsoe, Matt Barnes and Manny Harris have been working at the two locations run by Joe Abunassar this summer.

The league is expected to be at least two weeks long and feature two games per day.

The Chinese Basketball Association has decided to restrict NBA players currently under contract from playing on their domestic teams.

This decision will prevent teams from signing players such as Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.

Chinese teams will be allowed to sign free agents, but they will be required to play for the entire 11-12 season.

Michael Jordan spoke with the Herald Sun of Australia about the NBA's lockout.

"The model we've been operating under is broken. We have 22 or 23 teams losing money, (so) I think we have gotta come to some kind of understanding in this partnership that we have to realign," Jordan said.

"I can't say so much ... but I know the owners are not going to move off what we feel is very necessary for us to get a deal in place where we can co-exist as partners. We need a lot of financial support throughout the league as well as revenue sharing to keep this business afloat.

Jordan said small-market teams would benefit greatly from a "hard" salary cap.

The current offer from the owners was deemed unacceptable by the 60 players who attended a regional union meeting on Tuesday.

"We all know we'll have to sacrifice but something has to be done," Kevin Love told ESPN.com Tuesday night. "It has to be sooner than later. We have to get the ball rolling. We can't wait around until October or November and then nothing gets done. The owners will keep stalling and obviously they have more means than us to lock us out.

"I want to play basketball," Love said. "I want us -- the players -- to sign a great deal. I want us to make a compromise with the owners but not sign what they're proposing. We'll play hardball if we have to. I want there to be an NBA season but it's also apparent that we're going to miss games."

Love said Tuesday's meeting on UCLA's campus with NBPA director Billy Hunter and players' association president and Los Angeles Lakers representative Derek Fisher became heated at times when players fully grasped the details of the owners' proposal.

Love said the main issue was the hard cap of $45 million.

"It would be a crazy system and at the end of the day we're the product and the moneymaker and I don't see (the owners) going out there and playing," Love said. "We've got to stick together as one."

The $8 billion the players would be giving up over 10 years was another main point of discussion at the meeting, Love said.