While the NFL landscape is still altering itself after Monday’s injunction against the NFL Lockout that was handed down by Judge Susan Nelson, one underlooked element of the decision might be the precedent set by the case for a potential NBA union decertification. In case you’ve had your head in the sand about a second major sport in a year that is likely to go on a lockout, know that while the situation is different, the NBAPA has no qualms about using decertification as a tool either:
“But before we even get to that there are a whole lot of negotiations to do, and that would only sort a last ditched effort, if it came to that,” Hunter said following a press conference All-Star weekend. “We’re going to do everything to avoid that. We don’t have the expectation nor the desire to decertify the union.
“But if we’re pushed a year-long lockout, that may be one of the options we have to consider.”
My take is that if the NFL’s appeals fall on deaf ears, the NBAPA would be fools not to use the tactic in their own labor negotiations. NBA owners are obviously not as well off as the NFL owners are, but that doesn’t mean that there the situations are completely dissimilar. The owners will likely try a power grab, focusing on grabbing revenues from the players instead of figuring out a way to extend revenue sharing from the big market teams down. Whether the circumstances are different or not, it should surprise no one if decertification is a route the players union takes.