The lockout negotiations roll on, this time with some positive news. The sides seem close to getting a deal done.

After yesterday's marathon 15-hour negotiations taking both parties in to the late night/morning, negotiations broke off today after 7½ hours.

“I must say, it’s good to see you at a rational hour,” Stern said during the press conference after last night's talks broke off at 3 a.m Eastern time. Talks are scheduled to resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

After a long day yesterday, there is no surprise the talks broke off a little earlier.

"We've been here all day," said NBA Player's Association Executive Director, Billy Hunter. "We've made little progress. I think everybody is pretty wiped out after last night. What we've decided to do is recess the process until tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. We're going to reconvene and hopefully spend as much time as we possibly need in hopes of getting a deal."

The prospect of an NBA season in the near future look promising after comments from David Stern. Responding to a question from TNT/NBA.com's David Aldridge, Stern said that he has an idea of what the deal may look like.

Billy Hunter also said that he thinks they are within "striking distance" of a deal. Stern also mentioned that it would be considered a "failure" if a deal doesn't get done in the next few days.

There are finally signs of optimism that we'll see NBA basketball in the near future. Journalist Wendell Maxey tweeted that his source has "been told by a few teams that they expect to be ready to roll by Nov 1st."

Keep your fingers crossed, basketball fans. Although signs are finally looking good, no deal has been done yet and until then we will all be playing the waiting game.