"The NBA's Board of Governors met Tuesday in Dallas and heard a report on collective bargaining from Spurs owner Peter Holt, chairman of its labor relations committee.

The league wouldn't reveal if the board officially authorized locking out the players once the clock strikes midnight Thursday, the end of the collective bargaining agreement that's been in place since 2005, but it doesn't matter. As commissioner David Stern has warned already, such a vote is a mere formality and can be conducted by any means at any time.

The first lockout authorization via text message may be mere hours away.

Holt's committee will meet with the negotiating committee of the National Basketball Player's Association on Thursday, but no last-minute breakthrough is expected.

Here's the truly bad news: Once the lockout begins, the standoff is going to get nastier.

According to NBA executives familiar with the league's strategies, once the lockout is in place, the owners will push for a hard salary cap of $45 million, the elimination of guaranteed contracts and ask that the players swallow a 33 percent salary cut.

The concessions made in recent weeks, including the "flex cap" of $62 million and a guarantee of $2 billion in annual player payroll, will be off the table.

If this seems certain to guarantee the loss of the entire 2011-12 season, it is because there are owners who think it is necessary for the long-term viability of the league.

The players likely know this is coming because hints have been leaked for weeks. How they react to the old, hard line once the anticipated stoppage begins will determine the prospects for next season.

During the 1998 lockout, a settlement was reached the day before the NBA said it would cancel the entire season.

This would be the prudent course of action, but the anticipated hardening of the league's stance may move the union to decertify, an action that has been called its "nuclear option" since under U.S. labor law, it would remove the antitrust exemption from the league."