David Stern and the NBA owners went through the motions of tweaking their latest CBA proposal for the NBA players but after a second looonng day of meetings, there was still no agreement. Instead the players will take a full three days of to convene all of the player reps on Monday and decide their next move. 

That next move could be to hold their nose and take the deal and start preparing for a season or they can reject the deal and go forward with the decertification process. Stern added a little more pressure to that decision when he declared the league was prepared to deliver a 72-game season starting on December 15th if the players accepted the latest offer.

That would mean the paycheck the players have already missed would be the only money they would miss out on this season. The players have plenty of very reasonable problems with the deal but if they end up not playing this year it also stands to reason that they will never get what they are looking for in the end. This was the league's "revised" offer and not the "reset" offer that would be significantly worse and crush any hope for a season. 

Billy Hunter appeared worn out after the long day and also appeared resolved to the fact that his days are numbered with the NBPA and this was the best deal the players were going to get. Decertification or not this will likely be Hunter's last go round with Stern and labor negotiations and it will not end pretty.

A 72-game season sure sounds great, though. Essentially this would extend the season by a week and push the championship round back a week. So while the NBA did little to vary their offer to the players, this short-term incentive to get back on the court and get paid to play again may be hard for many players to pass up.

After the jump, plenty of good links on the latest details from the talks and a look at Billy Knight's latest challenge.

• PACERS: Caught in the Web Indiana Pacers blog - Billy Knight ready for a new challenge
• NBA Press Conference | NBA.com (VIDEO)
• NBPA Press Conference | NBA.com (VIDEO)
• NBA players to consider owners' new offer - NBA - Yahoo! Sports - Wojnarowski
• Stern offers 72-game season, few alternatives - CBSSports.com - Berger

• The NBA Players Association’s not-so-tough choice - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports

• N.B.A. Makes a Final Offer, With Hopes of a Vote - NYTimes.com
• No Deal For NBA - ESPN Video - ESPN - Broussard
• Details of owners latest offer emerge, just last offer tweaked | ProBasketballTalk
• NBA makes new offer, keeps clock stopped. Season would be 72 games beginning Dec. 15.
• Finally, the real fight - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
• NBA players must now choose between playing or decertifying - Ian Thomsen - SI.com
• Nothing left to yell about - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN