Report: Enough NBA Players Want Union Decertification to Force Vote

According to ESPN‘s sources, those within the NBA’s players union pushing for decertification believe they have enough support for the risky move. But there are doubts that they could mobilize quickly enough to get a vote this week: “On Monday, meanwhile, sources say that the players and agents backing the decertification of the union have scheduled another conference call to follow the two conference calls — each with at least 50 players dialed in — that took place last week. One source close to the process said Sunday that the leaders of the decertification movement, with Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce most notably among them, ambitiously hope they can ultimately secure as many as 200 signatures on a petition that would be filed with the National Labor Relations Board to call for a formal decertification vote. An actual vote would not take place for up to 45 days after the petition is filed, while the NLRB verifies the request, but only 30 percent of the league’s active work force — an estimated 130 players — is needed to satisfy petition requirements. ‘We intend to move fast,’ said another source involved in the decertification movement.”