Silver 'extraordinarily optimistic' NBA will avoid labor stoppage

The NBA has endured four lockouts in its history, with the most recent coming in 2011-12 which reduced the season to 66 games. If commissioner Adam Silver has his way, a fifth won't be coming anytime soon.

During an appearance on ESPN's "The Jump," Silver praised how well his recent meetings with the players union have gone.

"The tenor has been very positive. I mean the tenor is - we have an obligation to the game," Silver said. "I mean even those words have been used in the meetings. And so I think we're starting very early in our discussions. We're approaching it in a very serious way. And so I'm extraordinarily optimistic that we're gonna work through our issues and get something done."

The issue at hand comes from the salary cap skyrocketing as a result of the league's new nine-year, $24-billion television deal with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and the Walt Disney Co. With team's having more money to sign free agents, the opportunity arises for franchises to create "super teams" - something the 2011 collective bargaining agreement was trying to prevent.

Nonetheless, Silver believes the new cap doesn't necessarily mean we're going to see stars band together to chase championships.

"The fact that all of this cap room is gonna come in at once and so we're gonna have roughly a $20 million increase from about $70 million to $90 million in the cap in one summer is not how we would have constructed it," Silver said. "Having said that, that players make decisions for lots of reasons.

"And I think - you know, I'm not gonna get into hypothetically whether this player will choose to go to that market," Silver added. "I think we've seen in this league collections of All-Stars don't - when they're assembled that way don't necessarily lead to championships. I think All-Stars are also made by being part - of great teams. I'm sure that as we talk about the collective bargaining agreement, these are the kinds of issues we of course will address. And that is competitive balance around the league."