With no progress in the labor dispute between National Basketball Association officials and locked out players, the prospect of a delayed start to the regular season looms large.

A five-hour meeting in New York on Tuesday ended in a stalemate and further discussions were scrapped as the salary cap emerged as the biggest obstacle between the parties. The NBA season is scheduled to begin on November 1 but players association executive director Billy Hunter felt that timeline was unlikely given the lack of progress made toward a new labor agreement.