This news isn't earth-shattering, but it is promising. Via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
For the first time in two years of labor talks, NBA owners made a modest push from their rigid stance on implementing a hard salary cap, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
The owners proposed at Tuesday’s negotiating session an idea similar to the current system that allows teams to pay a luxury tax for going over the cap. Only, now there would be ultra-punitive measures against higher-spending teams. The current system has teams pay a dollar-for-dollar tax for exceeding the cap.
Now, granted, Wojnarowski characterized the proposal as a "slight upgrade" that was "unlikely to move union leadership." It also doesn't include further concessions on Basketball-Related Income. However, it's still something, and you have to start somewhere.
Wednesday's labor meeting will be pivotal. Hopefully, with the threat of missing regular-season games getting closer, something can be worked out and I can stop blogging about NBA 2k12 ratings.