THE NBA is pressing the panic button in its hopes to start the next season before Christmas.
Commissioner Adam Silver said the league and its players are “running out of time” to agree on a December 22 tipoff, which would require teams to report to training camps within a month.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN reported the update on Tuesday, Manila time, saying the league only has “several days” left to agree on a December 1 start to training camps.
Some players have scoffed at the talk of starting before Christmas, which will have given the NBA Finals protagonists Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat less than two months to rest.

Players have proposed an alternative start date on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 18 – although that would mean an even reduced game schedule, salaries, and league revenue.
For the fourth time, the league and the players’ association extended the deadline on the option to terminate the current collective bargaining agreement to Saturday, Manila time. If either party chooses to opt out by then, the CBA would be terminated December 14 “unless the parties agree otherwise,” the NBA said.
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