NBA Outlook Worsens as Preseason Canceled

After canceling the rest of its exhibition schedule Monday, the NBA’s perfect record of never missing a regular-season game because of a labor dispute is in serious jeopardy.

The league, which had earlier called off the first 24 exhibition games, canceled the final 90 Monday because of stalled labor negotiations with the players.

“At this point, our teams cannot possibly be ready to play any games before November,” Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik said.

The next collective bargaining session is set for Thursday. The league said decisions concerning possible cancellation of regular-season games would be made next week. The season is scheduled to begin Nov. 3. When the two sides finally meet again, they will have only a few days to strike a deal that would preserve an 82-game schedule.

Once a new agreement is reached, it will take at least three weeks to sign players, make trades and hold abbreviated training camps. So unless a deal can be completed a few days after the sides reconvene, there appears to be no way the season can start on its scheduled date.

The owners made their latest proposal 10 days ago, still calling for a system with an absolute ceiling on salaries--or a “hard” salary cap. The union said the owners included 16 pages of new demands that hadn’t been discussed in any previous meetings.

Both sides await a ruling from arbitrator John Feerick on the union’s grievance over whether players with guaranteed contracts should be paid during the lockout. Feerick’s decision could come at any time before Oct. 19.

The union plans to have players talk with fans at about a dozen arenas today to try to gain public support for their position.

Eddie Jones, Olden Polynice and Jalen Rose are among about a dozen players who are expected to attend a news conference at 10:30 a.m. today at UCLA in the plaza outside the men’s gym.