In case you forgot, ousted National Basketball Players Association (NBPA, the players’ union) executive director Billy Hunter is suing the union and its president Derek Fisher in an effort to make sure he gets paid well on his way out the door in the interests of justice. Remember Hunter was voted out by the players following the lockout, an audit of the union books found questionable practices, plus there were criminal investigations. But really, it all stemmed back to the lockout.
Hunter’s legal team filed a 21-page paper this week as part of the lawsuit, talking about how the end of the lockout came about — and he says Kobe Bryant and his agent pushed him to take the 50/50 deal.
Ken Berger at CBSSports.com has followed this case closely and has looked at the legal documents.But the most interesting series of events outlined by Hunter were those linking Bryant and Pelinka (who also represents Fisher) to the surprising collapse of negotiations at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on Oct. 28, 2011 -- about a month before a new labor deal finally was struck, salvaging a 66-game season and reordering the financial and competitive landscape of the sport.
“Late in the evening before the Waldorf Astoria meeting, I was already in bed for the night when my phone rang,” Hunter wrote in the court filing. “The caller identified himself as the ‘Black Mamba.’ I knew it was Kobe Bryant, a superstar player for the Los Angeles Lakers and the highest paid player in the NBA.” Bryant informed Hunter that his agent, Pelinka also was on the phone.
At that point, Hunter said that Bryant urged him to accept a 50-50 split of revenue in the meeting the following day and “put this thing to bed. ... Do the deal.”
I hate rehashing the lockout but here we go: At that point it was headed to a 50/50 split. Everyone knew it. The owners weren’t backing down, the only question is if the players would take it then and the season could be salvaged, or if they would hold out until the season was lost. Agents and top players calling Hunter to express their opinions is not out of line at all.
In the suit, Hunter uses this as part of his case that Fisher and some agents had struck a 50/50 deal with the league behind his back.
Whatever. Not sure I buy this, but this is really all about Hunter getting the $10.5 million he believes he is still owed under the terms of his contract (the players union says that contract ended when the players voted him out the door).
The league has yet to hire a new executive director, that search is supposed to be underway through a search firm.
Fisher also was voted out as union president.