Finally. The NBA lockout, which never really made that much sense, is over. The NBA owners softened there stances are a number of key issues and a deal was reached early Saturday morning. While both sides have to vote to make this deal official, that is all just a matter of time.

Among the issues the owners softened on were rules regarding the mid-level exception, sign-and-trades and even the overall BRI split.

If you believe Howard Beck of The New York Times, the NBA labor deal is 95% complete. The writer says that the main stumbling block remains the BRI split but that most every other issue has been agreed upon by both sides. If that is true, the NBA lockout could end rather quickly if the two sides can agree on the split.

Well, the good news didn't last for long. Just a day after things were looking up in terms of the NBA lockout, things took a turn for the worse. The NBA owners and NBA players couldn't agree on a BRI split and also disagreed on system issues. The result? No more talks scheduled and commissioner David Stern canceling more games.

Yesterday, the NBA owners and NBA players made progress toward ending the lockout by negotiating system details. However, the two sides avoided the main sticking point: the basketball related income (BRI) split. Today, that is exactly what will be discussed.

The players, who received 57% of the BRI in the last CBA, want at least 52% this time.

Everyone in the basketball world was hopeful over the last three days due to the many, many hours the players and owners were negotiating. The NBA lockout has to be coming to an end, right?

Not so fast.

After talking for more than 30 hours, the two sides say that hardly any progress has been made.