The National Basketball Association said it has postponed the start of training camps and cancelled 43 pre-season games because club owners have not reached a new bargaining deal with players.

Owners locked out players on July 1 after the expiry of their prior contract and talks over nearly three months have failed to break the deadlock over financial issues.

A session on Friday ended with no new talks scheduled.

As a result, the entire 2011-2012 NBA season is in jeopardy of being wiped out, with the loss of games scheduled between October 9-15 the first step towards a possible loss of some or all regular-season contests.

“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of pre-season games,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said.

Training camps were set to start on October 3 and given that no free agency period took place before the lockout, it is unlikely camps would be able to start with less than a week’s notice once a deal is reached.

The NBA originally scheduled 114 pre-season games between October 9-28 ahead of a planned November 1 start to the season.

The wiping out of two weeks of activity follows a pattern the NBA used in its only prior shutdown in 1998, when a reduced season of 50 games per team was salvaged after a similar fight over how to divide revenues.

If the pattern remains true, the NBA could announce the cancellation of the rest of the pre-season schedule in two weeks. That would almost ensure some regular-season contests would have to be missed as well.

Team owners, who say only eight of 30 clubs made money last season, want a firm salary cap rather than the current exception-filled system and they want a high percentage of revenues, which slid to $3.8 billion last season.

The pre-season schedule was to begin on October 9.