NBA players recently held their annual meeting in Las Vegas and elected Chris Paul as the new president of the National Basketball Players Association.
The union is in the middle of the most controversial period in its history, which is as old as the shot clock. It was founded by Bob Cousy in 1954 and finally recognized as the players’ exclusive union in 1964.
I was a member for 18 years and worked with every executive director in its history. When Billy Hunter was hired, he asked me to be a big part of the negotiating team for the 1998 CBA. Hunter remained executive director for the next 16 years until he was recently fired while being under a federal investigation.
That parting is still under dispute and may turn into a long and very ugly legal battle. Exiting president Derek Fisher had a longstanding feud with Hunter that played out during the last CBA negotiations in 2011. The allegations against Hunter tore apart the union heirarchy.
The mood in the office was so tense, in fact, that many of the staff had to “lawyer up” individually to protect themselves during the investigation. The players didn’t fare much better. There was a split among them as many felt they had to take sides in the Hunter-Fisher dispute or stay away to avoid being sucked into the drama.
Once the CBA was signed, most chose to stay away since their checks were finally coming in. This is all very familiar for many reasons. As a longtime player representative, I am very familiar with all of the folks involved.
In addition, I recently went through the same experience as the incoming Board President for the National Basketball Retired Players Association. We also fired our then executive director – a protégé of Hunter’s – who was involved in a power struggle with our board president. This incident put great strain on our membership and at risk of literally ending our 20-year old association.
From experience, I can attest to the fact that extreme turmoil usually brings the opportunists out in force, trying to grab power and control. Meanwhile, the quality guys tend to stay away from the drama. They don’t want the aggravation.
I was asked to take the position of interim executive director of the NBRPA in 2010. It needed someone who could run the business and work to bring the membership factions back together while keeping connected with our sponsors and managing the biggest event of the year – All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles in 2011.
To further complicate matters, a small group of members held a “no confidence vote” trying to remove the Board of Directors. Needless to say, not all of the action was on the court that weekend.
I’m proud to say that the staff I inherited really responded to help me lead the best All-Star Weekend in our history. In addition, the player vote failed to take out the board.
It was a contentious and difficult time. But in an ironic twist, one of the major keys to the success of the weekend was when we aligned with Paul in a joint fundraiser with his CP3 Charitable Foundation. It was the highest profile event that our organization had ever done with an active superstar.
I was impressed with Chris’ knowledge of NBA history and his ability to give back to others through his foundation.
Chris’ support of our organization that weekend definitely was instrumental in turning around the fortunes of the NBRPA. As you can imagine, we were having a very difficult year and this was the real turning point that converted a big downer into a profitable year.
Chris provided us with a great gift and we were grateful that we could give back to his foundation as well.
The NBRPA is now on terrific footing, and the transition to our new executive director went well. Arnie Fielkow is successfully growing membership and working hard to create new programs. But it can be a long battle to regain the momentum after a major shakeup.
It is courageous of Chris to take the NBPA challenge head-on.
His first task will be to reach out to the board and the players to establish his leadership presence. Chris is not only a star on the court but a proven leader and philanthropist off the court. This is very important because, that respect carries a lot of weight when communicating to players and the league. His presence will also keep other big stars such as LeBron James involved.
One of Paul’s many challenges is to prove that he understands the rank and file and is not just a “Superstar Guy” being only supportive of top-tier players (been there, done that). Next, he needs to stabilize the office that is split into the pro-Billy and anti-Billy camps.
Ron Klempner is running the union’s business on an interim basis. He is a long-time union attorney; his 20-plus years predates Hunter. Chris’ major role will be to elect a new executive director.
This is the most important task any union president can have. Hopefully, the union will have this person on board for many years. It’s like picking a spouse. A good choice makes for a strong long-term relationship. A bad choice can be disastrously expensive to fix, as the NBPA found out the hard way.
The executive director has several major functions. They are:
- Negotiating and monitoring the CBA: This is the agreement that dictates all business between players and teams. It is how the revenue pie is carved up. While the agreement is negotiated only every 5-10 years, it is the financial foundation of the league. The director needs to understand the business of basketball and be able to educate the players about it. The union’s biggest weapon against the league is player solidarity. Usually, players look for the executive director to be a lawyer because the CBA is a complicated legal document. Hunter was a former prosecutor. My experience is that most lawyers are not necessarily business negotiators and rely on points of law instead of business acumen for leverage. CBA points are never won on legal technicalities, and relying on them is a waste of time and money. It also is typically much cheaper in the long run to hire the lawyer to write the documents than put one in charge of negotiating your deal. In the 1998 lockout, we wasted months and millions of salary dollars debating the fine points of injunctions, decertification and other legal principles. While an understanding of the law is required, none of this amounted to anything except millions of dollars in legal fees. As one of the lead player negotiators and a respected veteran, I arranged with Billy to have direct negotiations with my counterpart on the owners’ side. I was able to accomplish more movement in one hour of direct negotiations than we did in a month of legal posturing. That hour became the framework of not only the 1998 CBA but the next one as well.
- Negotiating the Group License Agreement (GLA): The GLA determines how the license value for the players’ body as a whole is realized. Licensing is a complicated issue, as there are myriad folks involved with overlapping rights. A typical fan product shows the NBA logo (owned by the league), a player likeness (owned by the player) and a team uniform (owned by the team). They are available on hundreds of different products (owned by the manufacturers), sold in stores or online. In addition, the rights to digital content (highlights, game broadcasts, etc.) are shared on a dizzying array of devices in over 200 countries. When you group the players together as a whole for video games or trading cards, you need a group license. Historically, the league has bought these rights for a minimum fee plus revenue sharing. This makes life easier for everyone – especially the league – because all potential partners can come to the league directly and secure all the needed rights in one place. A video game company doesn’t need to get the league and team rights in one place, then go to the union to negotiate a completely separate agreement to add the players. This is a huge deal worth millions of dollars to the NBPA and is another example of a business deal that ends up being a legal contract but requires a person with business skill to negotiate. During my experience negotiating the GLA for the Retired Players Association with the NBA, I came to understand the importance of this agreement to the players. For us, it provided the bulk of our revenue, so a lot rides on getting it right.
- Protecting the players during grievances: This function is critical for the director. Many times when a player gets in trouble with either the league or the law, the immediate reaction is to assume guilt and hammer a punishment. The league is especially guilty of this to protect its image. It is typical for a player to be attacked swiftly with a large fine or suspension, and the player needs a strong advocate. Sometimes a player needs to be protected from his own side, possibly an agent or family member. The union is in a perfect position to do this.
- Preparing players for life after the NBA: The above three items are vitally important but don’t happen very often. I think that this is by far the most important daily function of the union. Players enter the league younger than ever, make more money than ever, and are more unprepared than ever. I have championed this cause for years and I realize how complicated it is to venture into these waters. The forces that separate a player from his money are truly powerful and operate from the time a player is very young. To get a player’s attention is difficult and needs a continuous commitment.
- Protecting the players’ interests: This includes items such as like agent regulation, the league drug policy, age limits and other areas that affect the rank and file. While the agents are there to represent and protect players individually, the union is needed for issues that protect players collectively. For instance, the league has its reputation to protect and would like to have as much control over the players’ actions as possible. Many of these issues are somewhat grey, such as offseason activities, on-court behavior and even uniform codes. The league unilaterally instituted a dress code and tried to change the type of basketball used without first gaining approval from the players. Many of these issues are matters of opinion and need to be thoroughly thought through and approved by both sides.
- Cradle to grave membership: Every player who ever played or will play will one day be a former player. While there is no Retired Teachers Association or Retired Steelworkers Association, there is a Retired Players Association. That association exists only because the union cuts off players when they retire. While the pension is negotiated as a player benefit in the CBA, players don’t have a smooth transition to retirement. Many don’t know that they have played their last game until a few years go by without being picked up by anyone. (Allen Iverson is a recent prime example.) Even then, most players don’t know about the NBRPA as an option since it is not discussed nor is membership included in their union experience. The NBPA has a budget exponentially larger than the NBRPA and in my opinion should play a much greater role in the members’ life transition.
As you can see, the new executive director needs to be a savvy businessman and great communicator. He needs to truly understand the business of basketball, advocate for the players and understand legal concepts. And he needs to be able to bring the players together.
Chris and the board have a large, important task in front of them. Speaking as a former player, union member, player rep, CBA negotiator, RPA Board Member, RPA Interim Executive Director and life coach, I wish them the best of luck for a very difficult job.
Editors note: Danny Schayes is an 18-year NBA veteran who was very involved with the National Basketball Players Association. He was a Player Representative for many years. As one of the lead negotiators during the 1998 lockout Danny created the framework that became the 1998 CBA. He recently assumed the role as the Interim Executive Director of the Retired Players Association during its recent crisis. As the son of an NBA Hall of Fame and Top 50 player, Danny’s expertise dates to the founding of the league.
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Danny Schayes is a retired 18-year-veteran of the NBA, a professional broadcaster and aspiring author now penning NBA columns for SheridanHoops. Follow him on Twitter.