NBA commissioner David Stern called the NHL labor impasse "very sad" and said he was hopeful there will be progress in meetings next week on a new collective bargaining agreement in professional basketball.

Stern, speaking before Game 1 of the Phoenix-Dallas Western Conference semifinal series, said he regularly communicates with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, a former top official in the NBA.

"I have a great deal of empathy for him," Stern said, "because in 1998 we needed a system change and we sat out half a year. It cost our players $400 million, but we got the system change. I have no doubt there will be a system change in hockey because it's not a viable economic model."

Stern said the hockey players' union leadership "has cost them something in the neighborhood of $1 billion."

"It's a big waste of a lot of human capital and a lot of money," he said. "Eventually, I hope, they'll work it out."