NEW YORK -- The NBA and its referees union reached agreement on a two-year contract, ending a lockout of more than a month.

The officials approved the deal that was reached earlier this week in a vote last night. No details of the vote were provided, nor were terms of the agreement.

"We are pleased to reach this agreement," NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement. "The negotiations extended further than either side had hoped, but when our regular season tips off on Tuesday we'll have the best referees in the world officiating our games."

The referees union did not comment.

The referees will begin a three-day training camp today and be ready when the regular season starts Tuesday. The league had been using replacement officials during exhibition play.

The contract between the league and the National Basketball Referees Association expired Sept. 1, and the league announced it was locking out the officials on Sept. 18, saying they had rejected its final contract offer.

The NBA decided to go with replacement officials late in September after the referees rejected a deal in which the league said its negotiators had already agreed.

That raised the possibility of the league starting the season with replacement officials for the first time since 1995. But progress was made in a meeting this week at league headquarters that included Stern, who previously had pulled out of the negotiations after referees lead negotiator Lamell McMorris criticized the commissioner's behavior.

Stern was pleased with the performance of his replacement referees, though ready for his regular staff to come back to work. The league used replacements, mostly from the NBA Development League and WNBA, during the lockout.

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