As one lockout is about to end, the other is taking a very familiar path.
Adiran Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweeted Friday that agents representing top players met with the executive director of the NBPA, Billy Hunger, and that union decertification was at the “top of the agenda.”
“Hunter becoming ‘more open-minded’ about idea, source says,” added Wojnarowski.
According to comments given to the New York Times, de-certification could certainly be a possibility for the NBA as there is now clear end in site for the current NBA labor woes. De-certification was a tactic used by the NFL Players in hopes of stopping the lockout set fourth by the NFL owners back in March.
“It’s not off the table in any way,” said Jeffrey Kessler, the outside counsel for the NBPA, according to the Times. “There’s no immediate urgency to that issue. It’s an option the players are actively considering. But they have time to decide whether it makes sense to end the union or not.”
Like the NFL, the NBA is hoping that de-certifying their union would enable them to take the owners to court in an antitrust lawsuit. This could possibly give the players an advantage in the current labor battle.
Source: Twitter, Yahoo Sports, New York Times, ESPN