BEIJING — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he expects negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association on a new collective bargaining agreement to resume quickly.
“The next steps are, once I return home to the United States (Thursday), we will be resuming our discussions next week,” Silver said prior to Wednesday’s game between the Pelicans and Rockets at LeSports Center as part of the league’s Global Games series. “It’s a process where it includes several NBA team owners meeting with representatives of the Players Association.”
The league and the National Basketball Players Association signed a 10-year agreement in 2011, but either side can opt out of the contract by Dec. 15.
“Chris Paul has been very active in these discussions,” Silver said. “He’s the president of the Players Association. Then Michele Roberts, she’s the executive director, her team. We meet and we seek to solve problems. Both sides have been very engaged and eager to get a deal done. So it’s my hope we took a little bit of a break for these preseason games. Michele Roberts traveled as well. She was in Spain with me for preseason games. When we return hopefully we will pick up where we left off.”
Silver had said on Sunday in Shanghai that he was optimistic to “get something done relatively soon.”
Fran Blinebury has covered the NBA since 1977. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.
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