18 Oct 2011

NBA owners and players to meet with mediator

6:43 pm on 18 October 2011

NBA owners and players will return to negotiations later today to try and resolve a lockout which threatens to delay the US basketball season until Christmas.

NBA billionaire owners, who want payroll cuts and a firm salary cap from multi-millionaire players, have already wiped out the entire pre-season lineup and the first two weeks of the NBA season.

A mediator is now involved in proceedings and will bring the two parties together after meeting with them separately yesterday.

The NBA commissioner David Stern has said if there was no deal by this week the competition's unlikley to bgein before Christmas.