There is a civil war at the NBA Players’ Association, with the union’s executive committee rallying behind executive director Billy Hunter and asking for the resignation of president Derek Fisher.
“The NBPA issued this statement this afternoon: “On Wednesday, April 18th, the NBPA Executive Committee cast an 8-to-0 vote that it lost confidence in Derek Fisher’s ability to act as Union President and requested Derek’s resignation.
“The Executive Committee based its decision on numerous instances over the past six months where Fisher engaged in conduct detrimental to the union, including acting in contravention of the players’ best interests during collective bargaining, declining to follow the NBPA Constitution, and failing to uphold the duties of the Union President.
“To avoid further damage to the NBPA and its 450 members, the Executive Board again calls for Derek’s resignation.”
A spokeswoman for Fisher did not immediately return a message.
Earlier today at the Thunder’s shootaround, Fisher would only say: “The quickest, most efficient way to say it is to say that I do and I’ve always taken my job as president of the players’ association very, very seriously.”
Hunter and Fisher have been at odds since a rumor surfaced during the lockout that Fisher had met privately with commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver to cut a deal that would give the players a 50-50 split of revenues.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, this showdown has been building for months and escalated in the past week when Fisher initially convinced the executive committee to vote for an independent auditor to look into Hunter’s regime. Nevertheless, Hunter helped to convince the eight members of the committee to change course and turn on Fisher. Hunter has been unpopular with many players and agents for his lockout strategies, which led to unprecedented givebacks in last summer’s labor battle with the league.