Agents for Players Discuss
Options
Exhibition Games Being Organized
During NBA Lockout
By Ric Bucher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 22, 1998; Page
E03
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 21 In answer to
losing an arbitration ruling
that has many lesser-paid NBA
players ready to end their labor
dispute with league owners and
return to work, a union advisory
committee of player agents and
union chief Billy Hunter today
discussed various ways to
provide financial aid to those
players during the
league-imposed lockout. Foremost
among the options discussed and
set to be presented to 200
players when they meet here
Thursday is a series of
exhibition games featuring the
league's top players.
"There will definitely be some
games," said Washington-based
agent Bill Strickland, "and the
frequency and location could
pick up to where it becomes a
regular activity."
A preview of what lies ahead
could come Friday in Houston,
where former Rockets guard Kenny
Smith organized an exhibition
game with approximately 30 NBA
players who have been working
out together. Hunter said the
Houston game was devised by
Smith but that a group of agents
with marketing contacts will
meet Thursday to discuss the
viability of additional
exhibitions. The possibility of
starting a rival league next
year also was discussed.
"We haven't decided what the
format will be," Hunter said.
"There are all kinds of
possibilities. I understand one
of the networks was looking into
televising the game in Houston.
I'm sure if we put something on
. . . it'll either be on network
TV or pay-per-view. . . . But
the purpose of the games will be
to provide funds for the
locked-out players."
Hunter and the rest of the
agents taking part in today's
three-hour meeting at Caesars
Palace uniformly said they were
heartened by their resolve to
hold out until league owners
drop their demand for an
inflexible ceiling on player
payrolls, or a hard salary cap.
A plan also was devised under
which wealthier players would
forgo their $50,000 cut of the
league's licensing revenue so
that needier players could
receive a double share.
"The players, the agents, the
players association is all on
the same footing," Hunter said.
"We agreed to a man that a hard
salary cap is unacceptable. The
reality is the players are the
game. And the commissioner and
the others have to come to that
realization."
Hunter said he plans to contact
NBA Commissioner David Stern
after Thursday's meeting with
players in hopes of resuming
negotiations, but he would like
to secure a commitment from them
that they are willing to risk
sitting out the entire season in
order to get a labor agreement
favorable to them. The labor
dispute already has prompted
Stern to cancel the first two
weeks of the regular season,
which was scheduled to begin
Nov. 3. The owners' leverage
increased when arbitrator John
Feerick ruled Monday that the
owners are not required to pay
the players during the lockout,
which began July 1.
"We think that the fight is just
beginning," Hunter said. "And
while the owners' intent is to
create pain and anxiety among
our membership, they're going to
feel some pain and anxiety
themselves. We're in for the
long haul."
In today's meeting of the
union's 19-member agent advisory
committee, some agents
apparently were displeased that
Hunter offered a proposal to the
owners that included a luxury
tax on salaries greater than $18
million, according to sources.
The proposal had been discussed
by the committee but Hunter had
not told them he would be
putting it on the table when he
did.
Several agents defended the move
by Hunter, arguing that they
couldn't negotiate by committee.
"There's unprecedented unity,"
said Strickland, one of Hunter's
biggest supporters, "and I think
it will be confirmed again
tomorrow. There's a high level
of confidence we enjoy because
of the current union
leadership."
There was little talk of
decertifying the union, which
would dissolve it as the
bargaining representative of the
players and send the labor
dispute into the courts. A group
of agents pushed for
decertification during the 1995
lockout. "I don't think we spent
10 full minutes on it," said
agent Keith Glass. "This is not
1995. We're not scared about who
is negotiating for us."
Even David Falk -- the league's
most powerful agent with a
clientele that includes Michael
Jordan, union president Patrick
Ewing and Alonzo Mourning --
expressed support for Hunter.
Falk supported decertification
last time, and while he
continues to consider it as an
option, he did not see it being
necessary right now.
"It's an option but it's not a
panacea," Falk said. "We learned
a valuable lesson three years
ago. You can't make a perfect
deal. Everyone is going to have
to make certain sacrifices."
© Copyright 1998 The Washington
Post Company