An optimistic union director Billy Hunter either gave NBA fans a helping of Thanksgiving cheer or fed them a bunch of stuffing yesterday.
Hunter said he is hopeful a “settlement conference” will be staged in Minnesota as soon as next week in following precedent of the NFL lockout.
Speaking one day after the players’ NBA antitrust lawsuit was refiled in Minnesota, Hunter — who leads the now-decertified players union which was disbanded last week — said there’s a good chance Judge Patrick Schultz will shift the case to Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan and have the two parties meet in court after Thanksgiving to renew negotiations. Judge Boylan presided over mediation talks in Minnesota during the NFL lockout.
Hunter said precedent is a chief reason the antitrust suit was refiled Monday. Hunter, appearing at a turkey giveaway at his Harlem offices with players Roger Mason and Charles Jenkins, gave off a positive vibe that’s been scant since the lawsuit was filed eight days ago.
“I’ve never given up on the idea of having a season, I don’t think the players have either,” Hunter said. “We can reach a settlement in the court. That’s what we’re hoping happens. We don’t have to go the full litigation where we completely decimate one another. I would tell fans don’t give up, put pressure on the players and owners, particularly the owners, to come to the table. It has to be resolved in context of the lawsuit, but it can be accomplished and it can be accomplished expeditiously.”
The two sides haven’t negotiated in 12 days. Nine days ago, the union rejected commissioner David Stern’s take-it-or-leave-it offer and announced it was dissolving the union and filing an antitrust suit, blowing it up essentially.
Now, Hunter is trying to piece talks back together, as Stern has remained silent since the lawsuit was filed. In fact, there has been no contact between the two parties.
“I anticipate what may happen, the judge there directs the matter to a magistrate judge as he did in the NFL — to host a settlement conference that could possibly occur as early as next week,” Hunter said. “If the hope is to get the season on by Christmas, things should pick up. I’m hopeful with the intervention of the court it might facilitate it and expedite it.”
Before the union dissolved, the two sides underwent federal mediation with President Obama appointee George Cohen and it failed.
“It’s a different level with a lawsuit filed that calls for 4 billion dollars in damages,” Hunter said, explaining the difference. “When it was with George Cohen, that didn’t exist. The circumstances have changed. There’s a different pressure now.”