Dwyane Wade backs decertification by the players union – NBA Update
Miami Heat super star Dwyane Wade has thrown his weight behind the players union and their decision to take the NBA to the courts. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) decided to decertify last Monday and proceeded
to file two lawsuits against the NBA owners on antitrust basis.
"I'm with the majority. When everybody's ready to go, I'm ready to go," Wade said in an interview with the Associated Press. "I'm ready to stick with our guns if that's what we decide to do.”
In a meeting on Monday, 30 team representatives and around 20 other players unanimously decided to break up the union after rejecting an ultimatum from NBA Commissioner David Stern.
Stern had issued the ultimatum last week after rejecting to negotiate with the players association any more. He and the owners hoped that through such pressure tactics they would be able to squeeze out even more money from the
players grasp, who had already given up around 7 percentage points of Basketball Related Income in labour negotiations.
The tactic though has now backfired and the owners now face anti-trust suits. The litigation is likely to result in the cancellation of the whole season, unless the two parties find a solution outside of the courts.
Wade admitted that it was a raw deal for the NBA fans that were on the suffering end through no fault of their own. He did say though that it wasn’t the players who were to blame for the current situation. If it was up to them,
they would be out playing right now, but the owners’ greed wouldn’t allow it.
“The message to fans doesn't change from what I've said: It's hard for players to say that we're sorry for this, because people say that we're not. This is our job and you see what we have to do. No one wants to be on the court
more than the players."
So instead of being out in the American Airlines Arena, Wade only made a trip their recently when invited at a concert by rapper Jay – Z and Kanye West. Wade hadn’t been to the arena since the NBA Finals ended and the team had
its closing camp.
So it was strange for Wade to go there as a guest.
"It was weird. Very weird, walking into that arena. It was different staff, then I saw some people I knew, but it was weird. It's just unfortunate that it's got to be like that.”
The fact that the NBA lockout looks set to linger on for months means that Wade would have to get used to that feeling. If a deal is not reached between the two sides by Christmas it is likely that he would only return to the arena
as a player in the season after.
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