The NBA lockout will be official starting midnight tonight unless and agreement is reached

First the NFL, now this. Shoot us now…

Looks like another major sports conglomerate will be locking it’s player’s out of a job next season if a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) cannot be reached soon.

NEW YORK — Union chief Billy Hunter says “it’s obvious the lockout will happen tonight” after players and owners failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, potentially putting the 2011-12 season in jeopardy.

Despite a three-hour meeting Thursday, the sides could not close the enormous gap that remained in their positions.

“The gap is too great,” Hunter said.

The CBA expires at midnight, after which all league business is officially on hold, starting with the free agency period that would have opened Friday.

Hunter said he hoped the two sides would meet again in the next two weeks.

Games eventually could be lost, too. The last lockout reduced the 1998-99 season to just a 50-game schedule, the only time the NBA missed games for a work stoppage.

“We tried to avoid the lockout,” union executive committee member Matt Bonner said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t reach a deal.”

They better get this sh*t together, because we can’t go through the fall/winter if there is no football AND basketball.

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