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MIAMI — NBA arenas are about to be unlocked.

For the first time since the lockout began on July 1, NBA players are going to be welcomed back to their team facilities, said league spokesman Tim Frank. The league sent a memo to clubs Tuesday announcing the move, plus giving teams permission to begin speaking with agents at 9 a.m. Wednesday — though deals cannot yet be offered, and no contracts can be signed before Dec. 9.

Teams may host “voluntary player workouts” and physicals. Training camps will not open until Dec. 9, and the regular season is expected to begin Christmas Day with marquee matchups, including a Miami-Dallas rematch of last season’s NBA Finals and Chicago-Los Angeles Lakers.

A person familiar with the league’s Christmas schedule told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the NBA will feature five games this year on Dec. 25 instead of the originally planned three. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the NBA does not plan to announce the Christmas lineup until later this week. The decision for the league to schedule five Christmas games was first reported by The New York Times.

But before games can be played, a new collective bargaining agreement has to be signed. And for that to happen, the NBA Players Association must reform as a union.

The NBPA needs to have 260 signed cards from players in favor of reforming the union by Thursday night or it cannot continue to work on a new labor agreement with the league, sources close to the situation told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein.

Union sources said Wednesday that the NBPA will “not be able to negotiate, draft and ratify a new CBA by next week and teams will not be able to open training camps and begin signing players next Friday as hoped” unless at least 260 signed union authorized cards are received Thursday night by the American Arbitration Association.

NBA players received the authorization cards with an explanatory memo Tuesday.

Still, players will be allowed to use team facilities on Thursday for the first time since the owners locked them out on July 1. Since a new labor deal will not be in place, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher that players will have to sign insurance waivers so that teams will not be liable if they are injured.

Teams will be allowed to provide a strength and conditioning coach as well as an athletic trainer and his staff, according to sources, but no coaches or general managers will be allowed to observe workouts and team staff are not permitted to conduct drills.

Though trainers and strength coaches are allowed to be present and assist players, they are not permitted on the floor to supervise or participate in on-court drills, a source told Stein.

“The strength and conditioning coach is only allowed to work with them in the weight room,” one GM told Bucher.

Players under contract, unsigned rookies and free agents are eligible to use the facilities, sources said. All players are free to use all facilities.

The league also said owners, general managers, and coaches are now free to comment publicly about things such as contracts, plans for future free agent signings, the team’s prospects for the upcoming season, and other comments on typical topics. Teams have not been allowed to do that during the lockout and clubs were allowed to make contact with players only with league preapproval.