While top NBA Players Association officials were trying Thursday to establish a convincing sense of unity heading into this weekend’s resumption of labor negotiations with the league, another group of players was laying the groundwork for the decertification of the union, according to sources briefed on those discussions.
At least 50 frustrated players convened on a conference call Thursday with an antitrust lawyer to discuss the ins and outs of the decertification process, sources told ESPN.com. It was the second such call this week, sources said, after a similar call Tuesday.
Although it was not immediately clear which players or agents arranged both calls, one source close to the process described them as “player-driven” and “player-centric.”
Sources said that Players Association executive director Billy Hunter was aware that at least one of the calls had taken place this week and he is neither anxious nor alarmed by a movement that would appear to deal yet another significant blow to the level of unity on the players’ side. Numerous agents and an increasing number of players have privately questioned why Hunter didn’t give stronger consideration to decertification in July — especially since Hunter has said on numerous occasions he anticipated the ensuing hard-line negotiating stance from the owners for “years.” But Hunter has countered for months that decertification is in the back of his mind as a last resort.
The two conference calls, sources said, represent the first formal step toward a decertification vote if this weekend’s negotiations with NBA owners — just over a week after talks collapsed last Friday — don’t bring the sides any closer to a deal.
The union and representatives of the owners will resume talks Saturday afternoon in in New York, with the lockout entering its 127th day Friday.
Negotiations broke down last Friday in dramatic fashion, one day after Hunter announced that a deal was “within striking distance.” Stern responded to the collapse by canceling the rest of the November schedule and also revealed that there is no longer time to play full slate of 82 games no matter how much tweaking is done to the original schedule.
Information from the Associated Press and Espn.com contributed to this report.