NEW YORK--NBA superstars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were among those present at Friday afternoon's labor negotiations session at a Manhattan hotel. The meeting, which lasted over four hours, didn't shed much light about progress toward reaching a deal to end the league's ongoing lockout, but the "sense of urgency" NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver referred to seems evident.
James, Durant, Wade and Anthony were joined by the likes of Paul Pierce, Baron Davis, Ray Allen, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand and Ben Gordon--along with union president Derek Fisher, Chris Paul, Maurice Evans and other members of the group's executive committee--for a players-only briefing while the owners met amongst themselves prior to both sides meeting. Afterwards, Fisher addressed the media, backed by several of the stars in attendance.
We feel it helps the process for our teams to hear directly from a lot of times their star players, their franchise players, the guys who mean the most to our game, Fisher said.
Negotiations will resume Saturday morning.
Aggrey Sam is CSNChicago.com's Bulls Insider. Follow him @CSNBullsInsider on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bulls information and his take on the team, the NBA and much more.