Billy Hunter believes that a lockout will be a potential "death knell for the NBA," and that the two sides aren't even sure which issues are being disputed still.

"I'm going to call David one more time between now and June 30," Hunter said.

"I'm going to hold him to his word, and I'm going to assume that all those other concessions they've talked about are no longer on the table," Hunter said.

But NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Hunter's assumption was incorrect.

"That's almost a silly suggestion that anything's been taken off the table. Those were merely three critical non-economic issues that we said we needed to have. That was the point there," Granik told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

There are only 15 days remaining until the current agreement expires.  Both sides expect a lengthy lockout if one does occur.