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NBA: League takes legal measures against players

Trying to head off the chance of an antitrust lawsuit from the NBA Players Association, the league went ahead and beat the union to court.

The NBA filed two claims against the NBAPA on Tuesday-- an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board and a lawsuit in federal district court in New York.

The NBA accused the players of being uncooperative in negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement by making "more than two dozen" threats to dissolve their union and sue the league under antitrust laws to secure more favorable terms in a new CBA.

NFL players decertified their union this year, though they ultimately resolved a 412-month labor dispute with the owners.

Players' attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who also represented the NFL players, was named in the NBA's lawsuit for his use of what the league called an "impermissible pressure tactic" that has had a "direct, immediate and harmful" effect on CBA talks.

"For the parties to reach agreement on a new CBA, the union must commit to the collective bargaining process fully and in good faith," Adam Silver, the NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer, said in a statement released by the league.

Kessler, said the players are frustrated because they believe it's the owners whose negotiating efforts have been in bad faith.

"The NBA Players Association has made no decision to decertify. They talk about the fact that this is something the players have considered for 30 years, and that's true. And they haven't done it for 30 years," Kessler said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "So there's no decision made. There may be no decision made. We view this as an example of their bad-faith bargaining. They don't want to be at the table."

NBAPA executive director Billy Hunter, in a statement released by the uni

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