Don’t be shocked if we all stay in limbo for a few more weeks, because it seems to me like the judges have no desire to make a ruling before then. Unfortunately, the longer this thing drags on in the courts, the more time is misses and the greater the potential for there to be missed time in the upcoming season. I was hoping that we would at least have seen some progression in this whole thing by now, and the fact that the two sides seem to be farther apart than ever makes me even more nervous. This thing is a long way from being resolved, so get comfortable, because we aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

Pretty much, the deal is that Judge Nelson ruled in favor of the players and, by court order, lifted the lockout placed on those players by the league. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean business as usual, at least at this point. The league will file an appeal, and they will also ask for a stay in lifting the lockout, with their argument being that opening the doors before a final decision made on the appeal will cause “an undue hardship for the league” if they have to close the doors again after appeal.

So, while the lockout is technically lifted, don’t expect any player movement or anything else of significance to go down in the coming days. There’s a chance that free agency/trading could be back by the draft, but that will only be the case if the league can’t get a stay from the courts. It would be great if we could have player movement back before Thursday, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. My guess is that the league will get their stay, and frankly I believe that the league will win their appeal as well. We aren’t out of the woods yet. In fact, we might not even be close.