Representatives from the ownership committee and Players Association will meet over All-Star weekend.

"The league is hopeful that it's a constructive meeting and ... the meeting is a path toward a deal, with greater intensity and sense of urgency," NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver told NBA.com.

The league is asking for wholesale changes to the current economic system, while the National Basketball Players Association has countered that the current setup is working and only minor adjustments are needed. Both sides have acknowledged the very real prospect of a work stoppage.

"We would welcome a sense of urgency in the context of progress toward a deal, but we have not seen any sense of urgency over the last seven months since we made a proposal," NBPA spokesman Dan Wasserman told NBA.com. "Until we do, we're very much focused on preparation for a lockout."

The league presented its initial CBA offer 13 months ago. It called for hard salary cap, a rollback of salaries/benefits of $750 million to $800 million per year, and a reduction in guaranteed contracts. The union rejected the owners' plan in February during All-Star weekend in Dallas.

The Players Association countered in July with a proposal that included reducing, by an unspecified amount, the players' share of basketball-related income. That now stands at 57 percent. The union also presented several ideas that would promote more player movement.