Commissioner David Stern said yesterday that the N.B.A. players and owners were not close to a new collective bargaining agreement, but that he was hopeful a deal would be reached before the contract expired after this season.

The N.H.L. lockout, he said, should give basketball players and owners a sense of urgency.

"It is a living example of what can happen if you don't reach an agreement, and that's what compels us to keep talking," Stern said in a conference call, although he added that there were substantial differences between the basketball and hockey situations.

One major proposal of the owners is limiting the maximum length of contracts to four years, not seven, so players who are no longer in the league or shouldn't be in the league at higher salaries are not rewarded, he said.

He is still seeking to establish a minimum age requirement, 20, with disincentives for signing out of high school or contract incentives to wait.