With Commissioner David Stern maintaining that the NBA will shut its doors on June 30 if no new agreement is in place, both the league and its players' association find themselves unable to agree even to the amount of issues on the table. While Stern highlighted three critical elements of the negotiation, union head Billy Hunter maintained that, if only those issues were left on the table, an agreement would be near. Stern, however, holds that there are more than three issues to be discussed. Either way, the chance for an agreement before June 30 looks slim if not impossible.
See "N.B.A. and Union Can't Agree on Exactly What's at Issue", Associated Press, The New York Times, June 15, 2005