Owners, players may meet Tuesday. That would make Kobe happy.

What Kobe Bryant wants, Kobe Bryant gets.

Okay, it’s not that simple, but in this case it could be a good thing.

The NBA owners and players are trying to set up one last meeting before David Stern’s Wednesday deadline, reported Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The NBA and Players Association are discussing setting up a meeting for Tuesday to try and reach agreement on a labor deal, a league source told Yahoo! Sports. Nothing is finalized, but the sides were working toward having a session in New York before Wednesday’s league-imposed deadline for the union to accept the owners’ current offer.

They can’t make a deal if they aren’t in the same room talking to one another, so if they set this up it is a start. What preconditions could be on this meeting — after Stern’s ultimatium late Saturday night — are unknown. The union isn’t going to take Stern’s offer as is. But if the two sides talk maybe the system issues could be worked out, clearing the way for an agreement on basketball related income. It would mean both sides giving a little more, but hey miracles do happen.

And it would make Kobe happy.

He told Wojnarowski he just wants to see the two sides sit down and talk.

“We need for the two sides to get together again before Wednesday, because we’re too close to getting a deal done,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. “We need to iron out the last system items and save this from spiraling into a nuclear winter.”

This is what the lockout has come to: Kobe Bryant has become the voice of concession and reason. Kobe and concession in the same sentence.

(Although this is very Kobe, he knows he is at the tail end of his career and he can’t win a ring or make personal scoring goals, like passing Jordan in total points, if he has to sit out a season.)

At this point, I am pleased when the two sides sit down in a room to talk. Not optimistic, but pleased. It’s the only way anything is going to get done.