February 18 2011 Last updated at 12:30 AM ET
LOS ANGELES -- It seems even David Stern is getting tired of all the Carmelo Anthony drama.
In an interview at All-Star Weekend on Thursday night with FanHouse's Sam Amick and Chris Tomasson, the NBA commissioner was asked if the constant speculation about where the Denver star, who is on the trading block, soon might be playing has become somewhat of a negative for the league.
"Yes, I think that,'' Stern said. "Honestly, it can't be helpful getting to the place where the sport is so popular now and the ruminations about it in the media so over the top, in a good way, I suppose, that if a player doesn't sign a new contract, the speculation begins.
"In fact, it's now gone to the next level. Poor Dwight Howard (of Orlando). He's out there playing his head off and the media is, 'Oh, where's he going next?' What is that all about? It's ridiculous.''
There has been speculation about where Howard might play after his contract could expire in the summer of 2012. Stern was asked how he might change the situations involving Anthony and Howard.
"I have some great ideas,'' Stern said. "But it would be less employment for the (Fourth) Estate (the media). It's what we live with. That's what we do.''
Stern also talked about Friday's negotiating session with the players union in Beverly Hills, Calif. With the collective bargaining agreement expiring June 30 and many believing there will be a lockout, Stern admitted he doesn't expect anything substantial to come out of it.
"I think it's not a negotiating session,'' Stern said. "I would say more of a get together. What I'm really hoping the most relevant it could be is if the parties agree that we've got to get down to hard work after the meeting is over and decide to set a (negotiating) schedule. But with that many people coming it's really more of a sort of a goodwill gesture and sort of a show-your-resolve gesture by both sides. ... I agreed with (union executive director) Billy Hunter and (NBA deputy commissioner) Adam Silver that this is a good thing to do, to have a meeting. Because the players really wanted it."Union officials also don't expect anything substantial to come out of the meeting. Expected to attend the meeting are many of the 24 players in Sunday's All-Star Game. Players who are likely to attend include Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose.
"That's the way Billy has set it up,'' Stern said of the meeting being open to so many players, not just those on the union executive board. "And we said the same thing to our owners (about being free to attend). So we won't know until we get there (who will attend).''
Stern said he initially had wanted the meeting to be Monday morning because the NBA "didn't want to turn it into a sideshow.'' But the meeting instead will be held Friday with plenty of focus from the media. In fact, the union has scheduled a press conference for after the meeting at the media hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Stern was noncommittal on whether he believes there will be a lockout.
"I'm neither an optimist or a pessimist on this one,'' Stern said. "We're just going to work hard and hopefully we'll get a deal done. We will get a deal done eventually. We would like very much to get one done before any damage is done. But we'll see how that works.''
Asked whether he believes next season will start on time, Stern said, "I don't know. I'm not optimistic yet. But I'm not pessimistic yet. I just don't know. See me on June 30. I'll have a better idea.''
The sides are still far apart. In fact, Stern, who has said NBA salaries need to be cut by a third, said nothing has changed from the perspective of the owners since the meeting that was held last February during All-Star Weekend in Dallas. The proposal the owners made then, which included significant cuts in salary and length of contracts, was quickly rejected by the players.
"No,'' Stern said of the owners haven't changed their thinking in the past year. "The numbers are the numbers. And we have to negotiate with those numbers.''
The union presented a counter proposal last summer that primarily dealt with keeping the status quo. But the owners have yet to respond to that.
Stern also was asked about the possibility of the union setting up meetings with not only agents, but other advisors to players, in order to educate them on the labor situation.
"I think it's good,'' Stern said. "I think that we spent a lot of time giving the union all the economic data you could possibly ask for. And I think that the more of an understanding that any interested party has about the situation in which we find ourselves is a good thing.''
Apparently, though, all this speculation about Anthony and Howard is not as good.
Chris Tomasson covered the Denver Nuggets from 2002-09 for the defunct Rocky Mountain News. Prior to that, he was on the Cleveland Cavaliers beat for the Akron Beacon Journal and also has covered five Olympics, major college sports, the NFL and MLB. He has won numerous awards, including 10 in the past nine Pro Basketball Writers Association contests.
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