NEW YORK: NBA owners will lock out players after talks ended without a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires Thursday, NBA players union boss Billy Hunter said. Three hours of talks Thursday just hours before a midnight deadline proved fruitless, with the NBA announcing an end of negotiations on its website and adding that owners “are expected” to lock out players early on Friday. “Players want to continue playing basketball and are very disappointed,” Hunter said after talks broke off. The move puts the 2011-2012 NBA season in jeopardy and sends the NBA into a shutdown for the first time since the 1998-99 season, when the season was reduced to only 50 games, the only time NBA games were lost to a work stoppage. “We tried to avoid the lockout,” said Matt Bonner, a player and member of the union executive committee. “Unfortunately we couldn't reach a deal.” The lockout would suspended all league business, including trades and free agency signings that typically would start on Friday. When such stars as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki might return to the court is now unclear just over two weeks after German star Nowitzki led Dallas to victory over James and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The NBA follows the National Football League (NFL) into a work stoppage. The NFL lockout is now in its 107th day. – Agence France
