The last several months, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have been quietly working hard on a new collective bargaining agreement to avoid a work stoppage, which took place before a deal was struck in 2011.The negotiations have been building toward this week, when a crucial moment in the talks will arrive. Here is a quick explanation of what is taking place:Q: What is the Dec. 15 deadline?A: When the NBA and the players union ended the lockout in 2011, they agreed to a 10-year collective bargaining agreement through 2021. However, a provision allows either side to declare the intention -- by Dec. 15, 2016 -- to opt out of the last four years of the CBA. From the day they signed this contract, both sides knew theyd probably be talking about a new agreement now and not in 2021. That date arrives Thursday.The desire has been to have a new deal done so a replacement plan would be in place, to assure labor peace, at the moment the current one is terminated. If a new CBA isnt in place, either the league or the union -- or perhaps both -- will opt out, and the current CBA will end on June 30, 2017.Q: So if the sides dont agree by Thursday, will there be another lockout?A: Not necessarily. Thursday is a procedural deadline. The real deadline for getting a deal done is July 1 of next year. If the opt-out clause is invoked and there isnt a deal by then, thats when a lockout would begin. There is still lots of time. The true deadline is probably September, when actual training camp time would be lost.However, both sides are motivated to get a deal done, and doing so now, six-plus months early, would be a great sign and assure no disruption in the leagues momentum. If theres a roadblock now, it could end up fostering bad blood. These talks have been framed as a CBA extension, not a new CBA because many issues settled in the previous CBA are being left alone. If the sides have to start from scratch, theres a greater chance problems will arise.Q: Could this deadline be pushed back?A: Sure, the sides could mutually agree to extend it out a few days if they feel theyre in deal range. They have been talking intensively for months now and have settled a lot of matters. The biggest issue is always the split of the revenue pie -- that is what caused the loss of games in 2011 -- and the sides have agreed to leave the current split essentially in place.The players have been getting between 49-51 percent of basketball revenue the past six years, depending on a series of complex factors. As long as that agreement holds, its likely there will be no lost time.Q: So whats the holdup?A: The biggest sticking point is believed to be the licensing deal. This is about the money that comes in from brands that use NBA logos or likenesses of players: jersey sales, video games, the official beer of the NBA, etc. In the past, this agreement has been separate from the CBA, but it appears the sides want to make changes to the contract now.They have been talking for several weeks about this and dont yet have a resolution. But with so many larger matters, and since commissioner Adam Silver and union executive director Michele Roberts are focused on making sure their first CBA together doesnt involve a work stoppage, leaders on both sides believe they can get something done.Q: So why was Carmelo Anthony so pessimistic?A: Anthony is one of the union vice presidents, and he was clearly frustrated in his remarks to ESPN over the weekend. It is typical in complex negotiations for sides to get upset with each other when problems arent resolved quickly. Deadlines also create pressure. That is manifesting itself here.This is clearly a challenge because there was a belief that a deal would be in place by now. On balance, theres been a lot more agreement in major areas, such as revenue split, expansion of the D-League, changes to free agency, changes to extension rules and a joint effort to help retired players.Q: How will this affect this season?A: In several ways. Teams have been waiting to make moves until they see what the new rules are. The future salary cap might change, the size of max contracts might change, and rules about contract extensions might change. If those new rules are finalized and teams can digest them, it may lead to a flurry of trades and perhaps even a contract extension or two as teams position themselves.If theres no deal, it might freeze the transaction market somewhat because teams will be cautious about making deals when they dont know all the new rules.Q: So theres no way games would be lost this season?A: Right, even if theres no deal this week, the current agreement will carry past the NBA Finals and the 2017 draft. All of those events will happen as scheduled.Fake NFL Jerseys Cheap . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Fake NFL Jerseys China . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. https://www.fakenfljerseys.com/ . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Fake NFL Jerseys Wholesale .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Fake NFL Jerseys For Sale . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No.CHICAGO -- Valentina Shevchenko stunned Holly Holm on Saturday night at UFC Chicago, unanimously outpointing the former UFC champion.Fighting for the first fight since losing the belt to Miesha Tate at UFC 196, Holm had losing scores of 49-46 from the judges.Her stunning knockout of then-champ Ronda Rousey in Australia at UFC 193 catapulted Holm (10-2) into the spotlight of mixed martial arts, but she followed with the back-to-back losses.Shevchenko (13-2) put herself in the mix to contend for the womens bantamweight title at 135 pounds that is held by Amanda Nunes, who she lost to in March at UFC 196.Holm knocked Shevchenko to the mat with a quick hook early in the first round as Shevchenko quickly got back to her feet. Shevchenko had a takedown late in the round.In the third round, after Shevchenko got in a few jabs, Shevchenko caught Holms leg on a kick attempt and took her down. Shevchenko had another takedown and kept Holm (10-2) on the mat for the rest of the round as she landed punches.Shevchenko may get another shot at Nunes, who dismantled Tate for the belt at UFC 200.In the co-main event, Edson Barboza won in a unanimous decision over Gilbert Melendez in a lightweight fight.Barboza (18-4) began to take control late in the second round. Melendez attempted a kick, but Barboza caught Melendezs leg and took him down. Barboza had Melendez (22-6) pinned to ground as he landed a series of punches, but Melendez was saved by the bell.Barboza scored with the judges on a number of kicks to Melendezs left knee in the third round as the judges scored the fight 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 in favor of Barboza.Barboza backed up his last win against former lighttweight champ Anthony PettisMelendez, who hasnt fought since June 13, 2015, losing a split decision to now-champ Eddie Alvarez, has lost his last three fights.dddddddddddd.Felice Herrig (11-6), born in Chicago, submited Kailin Curran (4-3) in the strawweight division with a rear-naked choke at 1:59 in the first round. Herrig, bounced back from an April 2015 loss to Paige VanZant.A welterweight fight between Hector Urbna and George Sullivan was scrapped after Sullivan voluntarily disclosed information to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. According to a UFC release, out of caution, Sullivan was removed from the fight as the USADA conducts an investigation into the matter.Earlier in the card, Eddie Wineland (22-11-1) dropped Frakie Saenz (11-4) in a bantamweight fight with a right counter punch in the third round to win by technical knockout.Darren Elkins (22-5), fighting 50 miles from his hometown of Portage, Indiana, overcame an illegal knee from Godofredo Pepey (13-4) to win in unanimous decision at 145 pounds.In one of the more exciting fights of the card, Jason Knight won in a split decision over Jim Alers in a bloody featherweight fight that featured three rounds of the two exchanging takedowns and blows to the face. Knight (17-2), who was verbally taunting Alers during the fight, withstood a right uppercut from Alers with 45 seconds left in the third round to go on his way to win his first career UFC fight. The decision was not popular with some in the crowd as boos rang out as ring announcer Bruce Buffer read the results. ' ' '