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NBA Players Association chief Billy Hunter says that NBA owners and players are so far apart in labor talks, the entire 2011-12 regular-season will be canceled.
That's the bleak outlook and prediction from Hunter, who said if he "had to bet on it," the entire upcoming season will be lost due to the lockout.
"We're $800 million apart per year," Hunter said at an American Bar Association conference in Baltimore on Wednesday, two days after the players and owners met for three hours and failed to make any progress on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Hunter believes that a new faction of hard-line owners is making it impossible for commissioner David Stern to make a deal.
"The circumstances have changed among his constituency," said Hunter. "In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they're doing is kind of holding his feet to the fire."
Asked whether there would be a season, Hunter said: "If I had to bet on it at this moment, I would probably say no."
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...cts_players_union_boss_billy_hunter_afte.html