Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The progress players and owners had been hoping for to save the 2011-12 NBA season did not materialize in collective bargaining talks on Tuesday, union president Derek Fisher said.

“We engaged in more intense discussions today to see if we can close what remains a very large gap,” Fisher said Tuesday evening.

“Today was not the day to get this done. We were not able to get close enough to close the gap.”

“There has been no discussion about next meetings,” added union executive director Billy Hunter. “Maybe a month. Two months. Your guess is as good as mine.”

The players, who received 57 percent of basketball-related income in the last year of the expired agreement, said they made a new proposal of 53 percent of BRI on Tuesday.

According to the players, the owners countered with 47 percent, a slight increase from the 46 percent they had previously offered.

When the league offered 47 percent, “that pretty much ended (the meeting),” Hunter said.

Owners and players began the bargaining sessions Tuesday afternoon, knowing if they failed to produce results, there may not be enough time left to avoid canceling regular-season games.

The sides first met among themselves, with the bargaining session starting in the early afternoon.

Fisher’s teammate Kobe Bryant arrived Tuesday for the meetings, with Boston Celtics stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett among other players joining the union’s executive committee.

They were sitting down with the labor relations committee of the owners, who locked out the players on July 1 when the sides were unable to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement.

The regular season is scheduled to open Nov. 1. Players would have reported to training camps Monday, but those were postponed and 43 preseason games scheduled for Oct. 9-15 were canceled last month.

The league locked out players on July 1 after the expiration of the old collective bargaining agreement. Seeking significant changes after saying they lost $300 million last season, owners want a new salary cap structure and are seeking to reduce the players’ guarantee of basketball revenues from 57 percent, to perhaps 50 percent or below.

ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher reported Monday that six powerful player agencies sent a letter to their clients over the weekend warning them of the financial damage the current proposals would cause them, and urging them to demand a full vote on any proposed deal.

Commissioner David Stern said it would be difficult to have an 82-game regular season and not start Nov. 1, noting that arenas are already pressuring the league to see if they can schedule events later this year.

WRITTEN BY ESPN.com TrueHoop writer Henry Abbott and The Associated Press contributed to this report & FULL STORY HERE