NBA, players union on verge of new labor deal, sources say

— -- Negotiations this week between the NBA and the NBA Players Association have the parties on the verge of reaching agreement on a new labor pact before Thursday's deadline for either side to opt out of the current deal, according to league sources.

Sources said Wednesday that an agreement in principle on a new contract to ensure several more seasons of labor peace -- anticipated throughout the league for weeks -- could be struck between the league and the union as early as Wednesday night.

Both sides have until Thursday night at 11:59 p.m. ET to opt out of the current 10-year labor deal, which would take effect at season's end.

But a deal to render the opt-out moot and snuff out any possibility of a lockout in the 2017 offseason is expected "very soon," in the words of one source.

A deal had been widely considered a formality for weeks, until New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony -- one of the Players Association's vice presidents -- told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne over the weekend that he was "skeptical" a deal could be struck by Thursday.

ESPN subsequently reported that control over licensing matters and the use of player likenesses had emerged as a significant issue in the latter stages of the labor talks, but sources said Wednesday that those issues had been largely resolved.

The league and the Players Association are expected to jointly announce a deal once it is finalized. It wouldn't become official until separate votes to ratify the new deal take place among both league owners and active players, but those votes will be regarded as a formality once an agreement is reached.

The league and union would actually have until June 30, 2017, when the current CBA expires, to hash out a new deal in the event either side opts out or talks collapse.

But even Anthony acknowledged, in raising his concerns to Shelburne about "a dent in conversations" that had unsettled talks "at the 25th hour," that he sides have been close to a deal for some time.

The sides have been meeting near-daily this month -- sometimes multiple times a day -- in hopes of getting the long-antiicpated deal to the finish line.