Peachtree Hoops: NBA Lockout: Billy Hunter Under Fire, Decertification On The Horizon?

[Hawksquawk]

Yahoo Sports writer Adreian Wojnarowski reports that several high-profile NBA agents are considering pushing decertification of the Player's Union due to a growing lack of confidence in Billy Hunter and where the current negotiations are going. 

Several high-profile agents, including Jeff Schwartz, Arn Tellem, Mark Bartelstein, Bill Duffy and Dan Fegan, have been on the phones with each other this week. Sources briefed on the conversations say they’re getting closer to pursuing a signed petition, with 30 percent of the NBA’s players needed to bring a formal vote on dissolving the union.

Wojnarowski reports that Hunter will try and sell the players that there are cracks in ownership with the big market owners pushing for a deal while small market teams are looking for a prolonged war. The problem for Hunter is that the same thing is happening to the Union in that the agents are growing restless. Wojnarowski points out that it was always going to be easier to keep 29 owners in line rather than 400 players and their agents.

If decertification was going to be in the cards then the NBA fan would wish that it would have happened many weeks ago. So anyone hoping for a quick start to the season probably shouldn't be pulling for the agents in this argument. Lost in the shuffle of all of this talk is the pending decision by the National Labor Relations Board that has yet to rule on either of the lawsuits filed by the Union or the NBA Owners. As SB Nation's Tom Ziller points out, a favorable ruling for the Union could help buy Hunter a little more time. 

Meanwhile, no one seems to know when the NLRB will produce a decision. It could be any day, and a win for the union there could give Hunter just the boost he needs right now.

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