NBA games lost yesterday: 2.

Total games missed: 284.

Earliest estimated date season can start: Jan. 15.

Projected player salary losses (through Jan. 15): $430 million.

Negotiations: Nothing scheduled. Yesterday, Newsweek reported that some players believe race is a factor in the talks. The union's leadership and all but two of the players on the negotiating committee are black; all the owners and the league's top two officials are white. "I think there is a perception from the owners to even some fans that we're blacks who should be happy with what we've got -- fair or not," said Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat. Commissioner David Stern denied that race is an issue and pointed out that the league has successfully promoted a sport whose player population is nearly 90 percent black. "This is a collective bargaining dispute -- no more, no less," he said.

Today's best canceled game: Lakers at Trail Blazers. Rematch of last season's first-round playoff series won by the Lakers 3-1.

Pub Date: 12/14/98