Silver remains optimistic on CBA talks, 'but we're not quite there'

By all reports, the NBA and the players association are closing in on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will run another seven years, but commissioner Adam Silver isn't going to count his chickens before they hatch.

"The reports aren't far off, but we're not quite there yet," Silver told ESPN's Mike and Mike on Tuesday, though he added that he remains optimistic.

"The conversations have been productive. We're not finished yet, but I think we're close to an understanding on the key issues. There's a few weeks of negotiating left to happen, but I feel really good about it."

Silver, who said he's confident a deal can get done in the next month, also praised NBPA director Michele Roberts and the players for focusing on business and what's best for the league and its fans.

The NBA's current CBA doesn't expire until 2021, but both the players and owners have until Dec. 15 to exercise an early opt out next summer. Labor stoppages in 1998 and 2011 led to truncated 50-game and 66-game seasons, though the threat of games lost next season appears far off right now.

Spurred largely by a lucrative new television rights deal worth roughly $2.6 billion per year, the NBA is expected to generate approximately $8 billion in revenue this season. No wonder everyone seems largely on board with the status quo.