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A month before the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, the league and players are no closer to a labor deal than a year ago at the break, when the union rejected a proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Talks have been limited since the sides last met in formal session Nov. 18, with the next session schedule during the All-Star break next month.

National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter wanted to meet with NBA Commissioner David Stern, but progress in getting a deal done by the end of the current contract, June 30, appears unlikely.

The chasm between the sides is wide and deep as the league seeks to overhaul the economic model and the union prefers to have tweaks to it.

Talk of a lockout is predominant, although NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver last weekend said it’s not a given to occur.

But Hunter, who negotiated the two previous collective bargaining deals, senses a heightened concern given his experience in agreements reached in 1999 (after a lockout resulted in a 50-game season) and 2005.

“Because … the participants on the league side — not necessarily David Stern, but some of the owners around him — seem to be a little bit more zealous and rabid,” Hunter said. “At least that’s been their demonstration in terms of their demands. They don’t appear to be backing down from them, and they’ve threatened a lockout.

“So I have no choice but to believe that they mean it.”

The NBA says the system is broken, predicting a loss of about $350 million this season. Among changes the owners want are a hard salary cap, a significant reduction in salaries and a reduction in guaranteed money.

The players say the current CBA is working, pointing to increased income from TV revenue, ticket sales, merchandise and lower salaries.

In the union’s proposal, submitted in July, players offered to include trimming the 57% of basketball-related income now guaranteed to them.

Hunter said he didn’t hear back from the league. “What it means to me, it means no. They have no intention of bargaining outside of their convictions,” Hunter said.

In October, Stern said the league wants a return on its investment that would require a swing of $750 million-$800 million in salaries and benefits going from the players to the NBA. Players would get closer to 40% of basketball-related income.

Hunter has told players to brace for a lockout. The labor mood is far more solemn because of the drastic differences.

“I figured by the All-Star break I’d see some indication as to whether or not they were serious about negotiating or whether they were just expecting capitulation,” Hunter said.

The All-Star break is not a drop-dead deadline for progress. The 2005 deal was reached almost a week before the old one expired.