David Stern still holds the authority to make some minor changes to the NBA’s current CBA proposal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski.

“There can be a few things tweaked along the edges, the periphery and this can be agreed upon,” one ownership source told Yahoo! Sports. “I’m confident that would not be an issue if [Stern] did that.”

“It will be a very slight budge,” one high-ranking management source said.

Union executive director Billy Hunter reached out to Stern and arranged a negotiating session for Wednesday afternoon ahead of the league’s 5 p.m. ET deadline for the players to accept the offer.

The question: Will the owners compromise enough to make a deal happen? Despite the players now offering a 50-50 split in revenue – giving back as much as $375 million a year – owners are still threatening to pull the current offer, and reissue a previous draconian proposal that could set into motion union decertification and the possible cancellation of the entire 2011-12 season.

The two sides are set to meet again today. All it would take is some slight movement from the owners’ camp.

Of course, the way negotiations have gone, Paul Allen will arrive at the meeting uninvited, Kevin Garnett will appear out of thin air to ball-tap him, Dan Gilbert will sit by himself in a corner shouting “fuck the Heat,” Stern will repeatedly strike Jeffrey Kessler with a baseball bat, Derek Fisher will bounce around the room trying to draw a charge, Billy Hunter will scream, “The system, guys! We need a better system!”, Mickey Arison will tweet something about cruise ships and delicious steaks, and tomorrow the lockout will continue into its 133rd day.

Do you forgive me for losing any semblance of hope?