NBA management believes negotiations with the players changed when Kevin Garnett entered the negotiating room on Oct. 4.

Sources say Garnett was 'defiant, determined and downright ornery.'

As one league official said, “We were making progress, until Garnett [expletive] everything up.”

Regardless of how long the lockout lasts, it will be the players and not the owners that bring the NBA positive publicity again after the labor dispute is settled.

"We can’t have completely poisoned waters here when this is over,” one front-office executive said. “Stern gets that, but I’m not sure all of our owners do. We have to have these guys on board, or where are we as a league?”