Real business can begin

CHRISTMAS DAY is the jewel in the crown of the NBA season but this year it will bring with it a bigger gift than ever: basketball’s return from the brink.

For a while during October and much of November, the enforced lockout of players by the 30 team owners had many believing that there wouldn’t be a season.

This particular dispute, the league’s fourth since its inception in 1946, began on July 1 and centred around the division of revenue, a salary cap and the luxury tax which that cap forced upon its bigger teams.