The Knicks guard and Players Association's vice president tells ESPN New York's Jared Zwerling that players have offered to reduce their income from last year's 57 percent of basketball-related income to 54 percent to avoid a hard cap, but they aren't willing to go lower than that.

"We're not going to allow the soft cap to take on the system," Mason Jr. said. "I'm hopeful that even with whatever system changes they want to make, that stays intact because I know what our guys want to do."

Mason Jr. said where the union has shown a willingness to compromise has been with what percentage of Basketball Related Income (BRI) players receive.

Initially Thursday, Mason Jr. told ESPNNewYork.com that "we would go down from that 54," but later that day he said that he had misspoke and that players had softened their demand from 57 to 54 percent and would absolutely go no lower.

Mason adds that he's bringing his "positive energy" to Friday's meetings, and hopes the owners are doing the same.