NBA players set to meet NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter on Friday – NBA Update
A group of NBA players will meet with National Basketball Players Association Executive (NBPA) Director Billy Hunter on Friday, 14 October. The players’ meeting is scheduled to be held in Los Angeles, according to sources familiar
with the situation.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday, but Hunter postponed it in order to attend a last ditch negotiation session with the NBA owners. That session lasted for around 7 hours but failed to produce a breakthrough, prompting
NBA Commissioner David Stern to cancel the first two weeks of regular season games.
Hunter will address questions from NBA players regarding the negotiations with the owners, and will also discuss the fallout of Monday’s announcement. Around 40 players decided to show up last time around and a large number of
NBA players are expected this time.
Big NBA super stars such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce have publicly supported the union and turned up for the last few meetings with NBA owners. The meeting on Friday is expected
to stress on the importance and continuation of the solidarity shown so far by the NBA players.
The NBPA has over 400 members, who have stayed extremely disciplined since the NBA lockout began on July 1st. This is despite the fact, that during the lockout, players are barred from contacting NBA owners, executives
and coaches. They also cannot use medical cover in their contracts nor can they avail franchise training facilities.
The NBPA has gained the support of its members thanks to the efforts of a number of senior NBA players, such as Kevin Garnett, Chauncey Billups and Kobe Bryant. They have been around the league for a long time and are well respected
by the players. These veterans have used their influence to instil belief and resolve within the players.
NBPA has also fought vehemently for the rights of players during negotiations with the owners. Their commitment to the players has been testified by their stance on the salary cap issue. The union believes a hard salary cap would
be very detrimental to the majority of players, who earn mid level wages, and have thus labelled it as “blood issue”, on which they simply refuse to compromise.
There were also reports that the NBPA offered owners more economic leverage, likely a larger share of the BRI, if they were willing to leave the salary cap system alone.
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