NBA Players Association director Billy Hunter expects to hear something soon from the NBA regarding a counter proposal submitted by the union last month.

Hunter said there still have "been no comments at all from them about our proposal." It was submitted approximately three weeks ago.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30, 2011.

"Within the next few days or so, I'll probably be saying something," said Hunter. "I want to hear from (NBA officials before commenting). I suspect that there may be some comments from them forthcoming."

Hunter has said that he wants his players prepared for the possibility of a lockout when the CBA expires next June.

NBA union director Billy Hunter doesn't buy commissioner David Stern's assertion of the severity of the owners' financial woes.

Stern claims league lost $370 million last season, but Hunter responded by saying that the numbers may be off by as much as $370 million.

The NBA's current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30, 2011.

"I'm preparing for a lockout right now and I haven't seen anything to change that notion. Hopefully I'll see something over the next several months," Hunter said. "As of this moment, it's full speed ahead for me in preparing the players for a worst-case scenario."

Sam Amick of FanHouse conducted an unofficial poll of owners, coaches and agents and the overwhelming sentiment is that is a lockout is inevitable.

One owner deemed it a "100 percent" certainty.

The owners want to go to a hard salary cap like the NHL, according to Amick.

"We reviewed their (latest) proposal with the owners," Stern said. "Basically where we are is that we're asking for fundamental changes in the system and the players, as (union director) Billy Hunter has said publicly, would very much like the present system to continue."

The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2010-11 season will be $58.044 million. The tax level for the 2010-11 season has been set at $70.307 million.  Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $70.307 million.  

The 2009-10 Salary Cap was $57.70 million and the tax level was $69.92 million.

The new Salary Cap and tax level go into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 8, when the league?s ?moratorium period? ends and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.

The mid-level exception is $5.765 million for the 2010-11 season and the minimum team salary, which is set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $43.533 million.

Last summer, the NBA sent out a memo to teams warning them that the cap would be potentially in the neighborhood of $52 million.

The NBA salary cap will be higher than the $56.1M projection, according to a league executive that spoke with Newsday.

The moratorium ends on Thursday morning at 12:01 AM and it will be when the NBA releases its official cap figure for the 10-11 season.

The NBPA has submitted their proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement to the owners, according to sources that spoke with Ken Berger.

The NBA Players Association has issued its latest warning about a possible lockout in 2011.

The memo, obtained by ESPN.com, advises agents leaguewide who are worried about players who might have "difficulty budgeting" over the next year in advance of a potential lockout "can and should negotiate an 18- or 24-month payment schedule for [their] 2010-11 salary."

The memo continued: "This will allow [the player] to receive paychecks throughout the course of the 2011-12 season, regardless of any lockout."