Billy Hunter preparing to face the music in players union briefing – NBA Update
National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter revealed in a recent interview his dilemma regarding the upcoming players meeting. The players union is set to brief its members over progress so far in the
labour negotiations and Hunter is preparing for it.
The players and owners have been at loggerheads for quite some time now regarding a new CBA. The old one expired and the league promptly enforced a lockout on July 1st. Since then, negotiations between the two sides
had been nonexistent up until the end of August.
In the month of September, three meetings have taken place in quick succession. After two were held on consecutive days last week, there was renewed hope among the NBA fans that a resolution to the dispute could be insight.
However, both parties came out disappointed from the third meeting and goodwill garnered seems to have been wasted. Players and the league decided not to meet again at least after the players meeting on Thursday. The league owners
will also be briefed by Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver on the same day in Dallas.
Hunter admits the situation doesn’t look good right now and is not sure what to tell the members of the union, especially regarding a future course of action. Many NBA players have already agreed terms with foreign teams. First
the trend was to go to Europe, but recently some have even decided to head to China.
With the current bleak outlook of the situation Hunter is not sure how he will justify stopping players from moving away in large numbers. The players can only hold out on a foreign offer for too long, and time is fast running
out.
"There are a lot of guys, many marquee players now, who have offers to go outside the country. And the question is, what do they do?" Hunter said. "I mean, do they hold off making the decision, or do they wait in hopes that we
get a deal in place sometime in the immediate future?"
At the moment, things do not look good for either side. The NBA training camps are scheduled to start on October 3rd and most people have already written them off. After the meeting held on Tuesday between the players
and owner, serious doubts have also been cast on whether the league will start on time.
In such a scenario, more and more players who feel undervalued by the league’s delaying tactics are going to leave for abroad.
"As time passes, guys are going to definitely defect, and you won't be able to find the same combination of skill and talent and character that the 450 of us NBA players possess," NBPA vice president Maurice Evans of the Washington
Wizards said.
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