NBA Lockout: Tentative Agreement To End Work Stoppage Reached

And with that, an NBA lockout that’s dragged on far to long is over, according to multiple reports early Saturday morning. The league and players rekindled talks over the course of Thanksgiving week in hopes of saving the Christmas day games. After the NBA Players Union disbanded following a breakdown in talks earlier this month, progress was finally made in earnest, resulting in a tentative agreement to end the lockout after marathon talks on Black Friday.

The report comes from Ken Berger, who has been dutifully staking out the negotiations throughout the lockout.

BREAKING: Tentative agreement reached, according to one of the negotiators. #NBA #lockout. Agreement will be followed reforming of the union, which must be recognized by the owners -- a formality, pending finalization of details.

In a news conference to announce the tentative agreement, David Stern and Billy Hunter elaborated on what this all means.

Stern We’re optimistic ... that the NBA season will come to pass on Dec. 25, Christmas Day, with a triple-header. Stern: We’re optimistic that it will hold and we’ll have ourselves an NBA season.

Hunter: We’re going to turn it all over to the lawyers ... and see how that proceeds.

Stern: Conference call will be tomorrow with labor relations committee. Hunter also declines to discuss details before sharing w/ players.

All quotes via Berger.

Free agency and training camps are both scheduled to open on Dec. 9, as well, creating for what should be a fun ride. All of this is pending ratification and the NBPA reforming as a union.

So that’s it. As long as the agreement passes through the lawyers and is agreed upon by the players, the NBA will return at long last. We’ll be back with more as it becomes available.