From Cleveland to China, the message was clear on Wednesday: There is real hope of the NBA and its players getting a new labor deal done in the coming weeks.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed that the league and its players will resume discussions on a new deal next week. Those meetings will be a prequel to the league's Board of Governors session in New York on Oct. 20 and 21, where the labor talks will surely be very high on Silver's agenda of things to review with the full ownership.
"Why wouldn't I be optimistic about it?