NBPA says players are united: NBA Update
Amidst reports of a rift on the hard salary cap among the franchise owner in the recent meeting with the players union on Thursday, it was also reported that there is also variance among the players. It is believed that a leading
group of agents and players are forcing President Derek Fisher and Executive Director Billy Hunter to decertify the union and file a law suit against the league.
To clear this situation Fisher, along with Hunter and a group of few other players, addressed a press briefing following a three hour long closed door meeting. Talking to the reporters Fisher re-iterated that the players are standing
alongside each other and there is no dispute among them,
"All the agendas that might be pushed by different groups, they don't have a way in as long as we stand shoulder to shoulder."
The bunch of players standing alongside Fisher were wearing T-shirts with single large word “Stand”. Talking on the occasion Hunter said,
"We've kind of dispelled the notion that the players were not together and they were not in support of the union. If the owners were looking for a break in the ranks ... I think that notion has been dispelled."
When the question was raised regarding the decertification, Hunter replied that was not the real part of their talks and neither they have any immediate plans of following it.
“We have all of our options on the table…we will review and assess all of them as time goes on.”
Both Fisher and Hunter don’t want to follow the footsteps of National Football League players union, which decertified their association instantly after the league imposed the lockout on them.
This extreme step was taken so the players can sue the league on the anti-trust basis. To convince the players not to decertify the union, Fisher brought NFL Players Association Director DeMaurice Smith to share his experience
with the NBA players on Thursday. Addressing the NBA players, Smith told them that decertification is not a “silver bullet”, and according to him unity is worth more.
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