According to ESPN.com sources on both sides indicated late Wednesday that they now expect a deal by the weekend, after a collapse in talks last week.
Lamell McMorris, the referees' lead negotiator, said: "I would say we're close, but not there. There's no doubt that things are looking better. The fact that we have an agreement in hand to study and have a vote [scheduled] are signals that things are better. But we won't know for sure until Friday."
If the referees decide in Chicago to refuse this proposal, NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik will move ahead with his announced plans to hire replacement officials.
With a deal seemingly imminent, negotiations dissolved when the referees accused the league of adding a handful of 11th-hour clauses to the contract.
Among them is a stipulation that the league office can fine the referees' union $1 million and any individual referee $50,000 for "disruptions during the game".
That's the NBA's response to a protest last season when several referees turned their jerseys inside-out and scrawled No. 62 on the backs in support of colleague Michael Henderson, whose error in a Lakers-Nuggets game was publicly acknowledged by the league.
