Negotiators meet to ‘set the table’ for larger NBA labor meeting

NBA Commissioner David Stern said he and a small group of negotiators met Monday in New York to “set the table” for a larger meeting Tuesday that will probably determine whether the remainder of the exhibition schedule will be scrapped.

The league’s lockout of its players is moving toward the 100-days mark, with the scheduled Nov. 1 season-opening games in jeopardy.

“A lot of signs point to [Tuesday] being a very important day,” Derek Fisher, the Lakers point guard and players’ union president, told reporters Monday.

Full committees from both sides are scheduled to attend Tuesday, with reports that stars including Kobe Bryant and Amare Stoudemire could appear. “Each side understands what’s at stake and where potentially there is movement in order to try to get a deal done,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said.

Training camps were scheduled to open Oct. 3 but were previously canceled along with 43 exhibition games through Oct. 15. “We all wish we were starting training camp,” Fisher said.

The owners and players are seriously divided over how to split the financial pie, with the league contending 23 of its 30 teams lost money in the 2010-11 season. The players’ union has already offered to take a smaller percentage of the league’s basketball-related income figure, after players received about $2.15 billion in total salaries, or 57% of BRI, last season. The players have offered to take 53%.

Over the weekend owners asked the players to settle for 46% of BRI in a new contract, and Silver hinted Monday that there is some disagreement between the sides even in how the BRI is calculated.

Several high-profile agents, including Arn Tellem and Dan Fegan in Los Angeles, sent out a group letter Monday to their players warning them not to ratify a deal with major concessions, alerting them that a drop from 57% to 52% of BRI — one percentage point less than the players have offered to accept — amounts to a $500,000 loss per player.

“The NBA demands deep cuts and major ‘givebacks’ that will cripple your earning potential and the earning potential of every future NBA player,” the agents wrote.

A union offer to cut the players’ share of BRI from 57% to 52% “will result in a transfer of over $200 million per year [to owners],” the agents warned. “This results in 10% or more of your salary being withheld by the owners each season…This applies to all contracts, including contracts signed before the lockout. You may never receive this money back.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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Pugmire reported from Los Angeles.