Yesterday, a federal labor mediator met with NBA owners and NBA Players Association for over sixteen hours. It may or may not have looked something like this in there.
They are meeting again today and unless both groups emerge from this meeting to participate in a joint press conference announcing an agreement that will allow the season to start in about a month, it will be time to panic. As it stands, with Commissioner David Stern "cancelling" the first two weeks, little has been lost. If a deal is reached soon, an alternate schedule can be created saving the games that were already axed, even if the lack of days off kills Tim Duncan. However, if the mediator cannot get to two sides to compromise, compromise goes off the table.