NBA players to discuss offer on Monday

The NBA Players Association will meet in New York Monday to discuss the latest offer from the owners and determine whether it satisfies their needs enough to end the lockout. Representatives from all 30 teams are expected to attend along with other interested players. They could decide whether to accept the offer, which proposes a shortened 72-game schedule beginning December 15, or take it to a vote and turn it down altogether. Commissioner David Stern has said if the current offer is rejected the owners would come back with an even harsher one. "We're not going to cancel the season this week," Stern said on the weekend. "We're just going to present to them what we told them we would." But in order for the NBA to have a 72-game season, Stern said the two sides would likely have to come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement within the next week.