1. A split of the pieThe players received 57 percent of all "basketball-related income" in the last labor agreement. Once believed to be the critical issue, it now seems to be taking a back seat to other systemic issues, although the players want to hold the line at 53 percent and the owners are asking them to take 47 percent. See a middle ground there, sports fans?

2. The luxury taxThis is the sticky issue. Owners have given up their demand for a "hard" salary cap but are pushing for a more punitive luxury tax, which the players consider a form of hard cap. Teams paid a dollar tax for every dollar they exceeded the $70 million threshold last season. The league is proposing teams now pay $2 for every dollar of the first $10 million and a higher rate beyond that.

3. Revenue sharingTeams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks could share between $30 million and $50 million with the league's smaller-market teams under an enhanced agreement that Commissioner David Stern will triple to more than $160 million next season and quadruple or more by 2014. The more concessions the owners can get from players, the more the league's richest franchises can pass along to the lesser ones.

4. Player contract lengthOwners want shorter contracts, probably four years for their own free agents and three years for other free agents. The league's version of the NFL's franchise tag: A proposal that they could sign one selected player on their roster to five years, a two-year advantage over other teams that would help teams in smaller market keep their best player. The just expired agreement allowed teams to offer six-year deal for their own players, five years for others.

5. Midlevel exceptionOwners seek to cut by almost half the mechanism that allowed teams to sign a free agent if they were over the salary cap. Under the old deal, teams could offer a five-year deal starting at $5.7 million, and totaling about $37 million.

JERRY ZGODA