NBA players rejected the owners current labor proposal on Monday, Nov. 14, and are preparing to file an anti trust action against the owners and disband the union, putting the 2011-2011 basketball season in jeopardy.
“We’re prepared to file this antitrust action against the NBA,” union executive director Billy Hunter said. “That’s the best situation where players can get their due process.”
In an interview with ESPN, NBA commissioner David Stern said:
“It looks like the 2011-12 season is really in jeopardy. “It’s just a big charade. To do it now, the union is ratcheting up I guess to see if they can scare the NBA owners or something. That’s not happening.”
“There will ultimately be a new collective bargaining agreement,” Stern said in a statement issued by the league, “but the 2011-12 season is now in jeopardy.”
“We understand the consequences of potentially missing the season; we understand the consequences that players could potentially face if things don’t go our way, but it’s a risk worth taking,” union vice president Maurice Evans said. “It’s the right move to do.”
Union president Derek Fisher said, “This is the best decision for the players. I want to reiterate that point, that a lot of individual players have a lot of things personally at stake in terms of their careers and where they stand. And right now they feel it’s important – we all feel it’s important to all our players, not just the ones in this room, but our entire group – that we not only try to get a deal done for today but for the body of NBA players that will come into this league over the next decade and beyond.”
The Washington Post reports:
By taking their interests to the courts rather than the negotiating table, the NBA players would be employing a strategy similar to that used earlier this year by the NFL players, who filed to disband their union shortly before the owners locked them out in March. That led to a series of court battles over the next several months — with the players challenging the legality of the lockout and the league objecting to the legitimacy of the union’s dissolution.
Those issues ended up not amounting to much, as a new labor agreement was reached in August while legal appeals were still pending.
The significant difference in the NBA’s case is one of timing. While the NFL was forced to cancel only one exhibition game, the NBA already has canceled the first four weeks of its regular season, and Stern has said the league will need 30 days from the time an agreement is reached before games can begin. If that’s the case, the league’s popular Christmas Day schedule appears to be threatened — and if the courts are to provide the resolution, the entire season is in question.
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