A federal mediator met separately with NBA team owners and locked-out players Monday and will host a follow-up bargaining session, multiple reports indicated.
George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, met separately with owners and players Monday and is set to attend a bargaining session Tuesday, ESPN reported.
Negotiators for the NBA Players Association will meet league officials at a New York hotel for the first time since talks broke off Oct. 10, Newsday said.
The NBA has canceled the first two weeks of the regular season -- its first loss of games since 1998-99 -- and has lost a total of 100 games.
Commissioner David Stern said last week a continued failure to reach a new collective bargaining deal soon could jeopardize games through Christmas and possibly the entire 2011-12 season.
"If there is a breakthrough it is going to come on Tuesday," Stern told NBA TV. "If not, I think that the season is really going to potentially escape from us."