NBA Lockout: Agents Want Players Union To Decertify

The NBA lockout is not close to being a good thing, but it has yet to really escalate due to both sides seeming like they are willing to take their sweet time before making sure basketball starts on time next season. If the agents managing a majority of the NBA Players Association get their way, however, the end of the lockout would be fast-tracked.

A majority of the top NBA agents met with union head Billy Hunter to discuss numerous topics, as reported on Friday, with decertification of the union was likely to be the biggest obstacle. That meeting went alright, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, but the agents are indicating that it could get ugly.

“Right now, it’s a respectful disagreement with [the agents] and Billy,” an agent briefed on the meeting told Yahoo! Sports. “But it’s getting to a ‘[expletive]-you’ point. We will blow this thing up.”

When said agent says they “will blow this thing up,” it means that the agents in attendance should be able to get the votes needed to decertify the union among their players alone, regardless of what Hunter wants. Reason being, the agents would rather be able to push the NBA into figuring out an early end to the lockout -- via the courts -- rather than waiting until their players are out of money and the owners have all of the leverage.

“Until now, the union’s strategy has been basically hoping [NBA commissioner] David Stern wakes up one morning in a good mood, and decides he wants to cut a fair deal for the players,” one agent told Yahoo! “We have one weapon left, and that’s decertification. We need to use it.”

It makes sense that the agents would like to put an end to the lockout sooner rather than later, but playing hardball might not be the best way to go about endearing themselves to NBA commissioner David Stern and friends as he has already indicated that decertification could have some ugly consequences if the players decide to go that route.

Still, if Hunter is indeed okay with waiting until the owners are ready to make a deal rather than trying to force their hand, I see no problem with the way the agents are thinking. The sooner the basketball, the better.