Union president Derek Fisher says his orders from NBA players are clear: No deal.
"The current offer on the table from the NBA is one that we cannot accept," he said Tuesday.
Instead, the players said they will ask for another meeting with the owners before commissioner David Stern's Wednesday afternoon deadline.
Stern has said that if the players don't take the current deal by then, the league's next offer will be much worse.
The players insisted they will not be forced into taking a bad deal by an ultimatum.
"The players are saying that we understand their position, but unfortunately we're not intimidated by that," union executive director Billy Hunter said.
The league's current proposal calls for players to receive between 49 percent and 51 percent of basketball-related income, though players argue it would be nearly impossible to get above 50.2 percent.
If they don't agree to it by 5 p.m. Wednesday, the next offer will call for salary rollbacks, a 53-47 revenue split in the owners' favor and essentially a hard salary cap.
And, Hunter said he heard, games canceled through Christmas.
Players seem willing to negotiate further on the revenue split if they get some concessions on the salary cap system. Without them, Fisher said "we don't see a way of getting a deal done between now and end of business" Wednesday.
The union called the meeting after Stern issued his ultimatum early Sunday morning. Fisher said 43 players, including superstars Carmelo Anthony and Blake Griffin, attended the meeting and that 29 of the 30 teams were represented.
