N.B.A. and Players Resume Negotiating

Negotiations to end the N.B.A. lockout have quietly resumed, with the goal of reaching a deal in time to stage a 66-game season that would start Christmas Day.

The talks began in earnest on Tuesday and are expected to continue on Friday, according to two people informed of the talks. If a deal is reached this weekend, it would give the league the approximately four-week window it needs to prepare for a Dec. 25 opening day.

That date is enticing to everyone involved, allowing the league to take advantage of the holiday setting and a captive television audience that, they hope, might be in a forgiving mood. Christmas is also the traditional tipoff for the N.B.A.’s national TV schedule.

A tipoff before New Year’s provides enough time for a compressed, 66-game schedule, 16 fewer than normal, despite starting eight weeks late. It would require extending the regular season into late April and pushing back the finals by a week.

Before owners and players can contemplate any of that, they must resolve the same prickly issues that killed talks two weeks ago: how to restrict the top-spending teams while still ensuring a robust free-agent market.

The parties essentially picked up where they left off Nov. 10, discussing a proposal that includes a 50-50 split of revenue, shorter contracts and tougher spending restrictions. The players rejected that deal, but on the basis of a half-dozen mechanical issues which, in the grander scheme, are fairly minor. They have already conditionally agreed to the 50-50 split and most of the new payroll restrictions.

Neither side has tried to put any new issues on the table, or backed away from previously negotiated points, according to those informed on the talks. That gives the parties hope that a deal not only can be achieved, but can be consummated quickly.

“Both sides could fairly say that it’s crazy to blow the deal up over these remaining issues,” one person close to the talks said Wednesday.

Still, no one is ready to espouse optimism, given how many times the talks have collapsed in the last two months.

The stakes and the parameters have changed since the parties last met. The players dissolved their union Nov. 14 and sued the N.B.A. on antitrust grounds the next day. Technically, the parties are now in settlement talks, not collective bargaining negotiations. The union will have to be reconstituted to adopt any new labor deal.

The resumption in talks was first reported by Yahoo Sports early Wednesday afternoon. The first official confirmation came Wednesday evening in a statement from the law firm representing the players in their antitrust suit. According to the statement, issued by the lawyer Jonathan Schiller, “preliminary settlement discussions” will be held “immediately after Thanksgiving.”

An N.B.A. spokesman declined comment, other than saying that the league “remains in favor of a negotiated resolution.”

In the context of a lawsuit settlement, the lawyers for both sides are technically in the lead now. It is presumed, however, that both Commissioner David Stern and Billy Hunter, the longtime head of the players association, are involved. Derek Fisher, who was the union’s president until it dissolved, has not been involved yet but is expected to rejoin the fray on Friday.

There is also a new face at the table: Jim Quinn, the union’s former chief outside counsel, who is now playing a pivotal role in this desperate final push. Quinn worked with the union on labor deals for 20 years and has strong relationships with Stern and Hunter.

Quinn’s involvement was first reported Tuesday by CBSSports.com, which characterized his role as a neutral “facilitator.” In fact, Quinn was recently hired by Hunter to help complete the deal, according to a person who has spoken with Quinn. It appears that Quinn may have supplanted Jeff Kessler, the union’s pugnacious outside counsel, as the players’ lead negotiator.

Kessler has a contentious relationship with Stern and is viewed by some on the owners’ side as an impediment to a deal.

Quinn played a similar role in the 1998-99 lockout, entering the negotiations at a late stage and helping push through a deal that saved a 50-game season. He is known as a reasonable voice who commands the respect of key figures on both sides.

Obstacles to an agreement remain, beyond the technical details. A dissident faction of agents and players — who believe the union made too many concessions — could still file its own antitrust lawsuit, potentially derailing the settlement and dooming the season. A number of B-list items must still be negotiated as well.

The parties need at least a handshake agreement this weekend to meet the Dec. 25 target. It would take about four weeks to get a season started, because of the time required to complete the labor deal, sign free agents and hold training camps.