NBA'S STERN ACKNOWLEDGES SLOW-MOVING LABOR TALKS

     NBA Commissioner David Stern acknowledged that negotiations
with the players union for a new CBA are "moving slowly."  Stern,
who has expressed hopes to have a deal by the All-Star break: "I
don't know that there are necessarily enough days left between
now and the All-Star game.  We've got some meetings scheduled and
we'd love to make some progress.  I just don't want to disappoint
anybody.  If we don't do it by the All-Star Game [February 12], I
don't want someone to think we haven't achieved anything."  NBPA
Exec Dir Charles Grantham: "We've gone nowhere.  In many ways,
we're just stepping into the batter's box."  Stern on the NHL's
deal: "It sounds like they have a deal that everybody is unhappy
with, which means it's a good deal" (Chris Young, TORONTO STAR,
1/14).
     A STERN DENIAL:  According to a report in Sunday's N.Y.
DAILY NEWS, Stern will not leave his job "to take a job heading
up the Olympics."  Mitch Lawrence notes that Stern is very
committed to taking the NBA global, "so who needs the Olympics,
anyway?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/15).