A significant part of the NBA's labor negotiations will be centered around the rookie age limit, according to a source.

In the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, the league instituted a rule that American players must be one year removed from their high school graduating class and at least 19 years old to be eligible for the NBA draft.

As could be expected, the players aren't fans of the rule.

The Business Insider reports that approximately 85 percent of players are against the current age limit.

The price of NBA tickets have fallen for the second straight season.

The average price of a non-premium seat dropped 2.5 percent to $48, according to the sports business outlet Team Marketing Report.

Ticket prices fell 2.8 percent last season.

Citing the league's extreme and inflexible position, union head Billy Hunter said Monday that a lockout is very likely.

"I’d be 99 percent sure as of today that there will be a lockout," said Hunter. "I’ve said, 'Save your money, because in all probability there’s going to be a lockout.'"

Hunter said the gap between the league and players is wide and stated that the union will not move from its current position.

The next bargaining session has not been scheduled but the two sides have discussed meeting in December.

Bucks guard Brandon Jennings wants to play in Europe if there's a lockout in the NBA next season.

Jennings spent a year playing in Italy prior to being drafted by Milwaukee in 2009.

"Teams are asking the NBA legal minds for direction on whether players are allowed to sign overseas during the lockout, a very complicated matter that won't be settled anytime soon but internally is already being closely watched as an important issue," writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.

Representatives from the NBA and its players' association completed another meeting Thursday to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass says Thursday's session included "frank and direct dialogue" of some key issues and the sides agreed to meet again in December.

The CBA expires June 30, 2011 and owners are seeking significant changes in the next one.

Even if the NBA is locked in a labor shutdown next fall, there will still be D-League basketball.

NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN.com that a work stoppage would not prevent the league from keeping its 16-team minor league operational.

"We intend to operate the NBA Development League next season independent of the status of NBA collective bargaining," Silver said.

The NBA's current labor agreement with its players expires June 30, 2011 and a lockout has been widely regarded as inevitable.

NBA commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver will match wits with union chief Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher of the Lakers on Thursday in the first significant bargaining session in labor talks.

"The smaller meetings allow us to get more accomplished," Fisher told Ken Berger of CBS Sports. "We're going to be hard at work on this between now and All-Star weekend, that's for sure."

A pivotal meeting will be held in Los Angeles during All-Star weekend.

Thursday's meeting will be the first session involving Stern, Silver and Hunter since Stern dropped his bombshell after last month's Board of Governors meeting that owners are seeking a $750 million to $800 million reduction in player salaries.

The NBA projected a 2.5 percent to 5 percent drop in revenues last season, and revenues ultimately went up to the highest level in league history.

Sources tell CBSSports.com that the league?s accountants are projecting a significantly better 2010-11, with current projections calling for a 3 to 3.5 percent rise in basketball-related income (BRI).

That would amount to a second consecutive season of record revenues for owners who are insisting they?ll lose another $370 million this season.

Hawks veteran Maurice Evans said Tuesday NBA players aren't buying commissioner David Stern's recent call for a one-third reduction in salaries.

Stern said last month the NBA wants player costs to drop $750-800 million.

"We definitely don't agree with those numbers," Evans said. "We feel like the game is really at a great place."

Evans, a vice president on the NBA Players Association executive committee, said the two sides may not be able to make any substantial progress in the labor talks until the All-Star break, when all players are available to return to the negotiations.

"If we have a lockout, it's just going to set us back," Evans said.

"With the state the economy is in, fans are not going to want to keep getting slapped in the face with players and NBA teams, as fortunate as we are financially to even be playing a game for a living, to keep throwing it in people's face that we're not making enough money, whether it be the league or whether it be the players."

The NBA affirmed its intent to seek a rollback of existing contracts.  In addition to changing the rules governing contracts signed after the new collective bargaining agreement is in place, the league office will attempt to reduce current salaries, too.

"It's part of our proposal," Adam Silver said. "It included a reduction of existing contracts in addition to a reduction of the maximums going forward."

Silver was asked if Miami's big three would be expected to take a pay cut.

"That's what they did in the NHL," Silver said. "That was the system they had. All existing contracts were cut a certain percentage."

The NBA's original proposal to the union would have allowed for some grandfathering of existing deals with salary cuts taking effect this season.