NBA owners and players, hoping to avoid the work stoppage that ravaged the last labor negotiations, began preliminary talks Tuesday toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The league's finances were discussed, as well as key points of contention with the current agreement -- including the current state of the luxury and escrow tax -- but no formal proposals were exchanged during the 4½-hour meeting held in New York, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.

"I don't think we're expecting profound changes to come out of these (initial) meetings," NBA commissioner David Stern told ESPN.com in San Antonio on Monday, before flying back to New York for Tuesday's session. "This is about a group of maybe 10 players and 10 owners getting a dialogue going."

The talks will continue later this week, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.

Stern and NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik represented the league, and Players' Union director Billy Hunter also attended. Among the owners at the meeting were the Phoenix Suns' Jerry Colangelo, the San Antonio Spurs' Peter Holt, the Houston Rockets' Les Alexander and the Miami Heat's Micky Arison. Jerry West, team president of the Memphis Grizzlies, also was in attendance.

Players representatives who were present included Miami's Alonzo Mourning, Toronto's Antonio Davis and Orlando's Pat Garrity.

Both the owners and the union are beginning talks in order to avoid another work stoppage. The current six-year deal, which includes an owners' option for a seventh, was reached in January 1999 after the 1998-99 lockout that shut down the league for six months and reduced the regular season to 50 games.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com . ESPN.com senior writer Marc Stein contributed to this story.