The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four

major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada The major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada commonly refer to the highest men's professional competitions of team sports in those countries. The four leagues traditionally included in the definition are Major League Bas ...

. However, the NBPA did not get recognition by NBA team owners until ten years later. Its offices are located in the historic Park and Tilford Building in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was briefly a

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

after dissolving as a union during the 2011 NBA lockout.

History

Founding and struggle for recognition (1954–1957)

In 1954, Celtics star

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

Bob Cousy Robert Joseph Cousy (, born August 9, 1928) is an American former professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard for the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963, and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals during the 1969–70 season. A 13-time NBA ...

and friend and unofficial agent Joe Sharry canvassed long-tenured players on each of the league's teams by mail, including the fledgling NBA's stars Paul Arizin and

Dolph Schayes Adolph Schayes (May 19, 1928 – December 10, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A top scorer and rebounder, he was a 12-time NBA All-Star and a 12-time All-NBA selection. ...

, and received support from the majority to approach the NBA President

Maurice Podoloff Maurice Podoloff ( yi, מוריס פודולוף; August 18, 1890 – November 24, 1985) was an American lawyer and a basketball and ice hockey administrator. He served as the president of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) between 1946 ...

. Cousy and the players sought basic improvements of conditions including being paid for promotional activities, a limit of twenty exhibition games per season, impartial dispute arbitration, and moving expenses for traded players. While back pay for players of folded franchises was granted by Podoloff, the NBA refused to acknowledge the players association or make other changes until Cousy approached the AFL-CIO in 1957 and the players threatened a strike.

Recognition, early successes, stalled negotiations (1957–1964)

After formal recognition by the NBA, the NBPA won its players

per diem ''Per diem'' (Latin for "per day" or "for each day") or daily allowance is a specific amount of money that an organization gives an individual, typically an employee, per day to cover living expenses when travelling on the employer's business. A '' ...

payments and travel expenses and an increase in the playoff pool payment, and the majority of the previously demanded conditions. In 1958, however, dismayed at the lack of dues payments by players, Cousy would resign his position from frustration. He was succeeded by Celtics second-year player

Tom Heinsohn Thomas William Heinsohn (August 26, 1934 – November 9, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. He was associated with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for six decades as a player, coach and broadcast ...

, who had studied labor relations at university and worked as a pension planner for an insurance company in his day job, and whose father was a union official in

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589, Negotiations stalled with new NBA President Walter Kennedy and the NBP and the league entered a stalemate for most of 1964.

1964 All-Star game strike

At the 1964 NBA All-Star Game in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Heinsohn organised a

wildcat strike The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

to force the NBA owners to recognise the union's demands. The game was to be the struggling NBA's first live television broadcast, and the league had to this point ignored the NBPA's demands delivered to league offices during the NBA off-season, and repeatedly refusing to meet with or acknowledge executive director

Larry Fleisher Lawrence Fleisher (September 26, 1930 — May 4, 1989) was an American attorney and sports agent. Born in The Bronx, New York, Fleisher, a 1953 graduate of Harvard Law School, at the request of professional basketball player Tom Heinsohn, helpe ...

as the union's authorized bargaining agent. The NBPA presented the assembled team owners with a list of demands to be met before the All Star game would be played: the pension plan, athletic trainers for every team, and the removal of matinee Sunday games after Saturday night games from the schedule. After 22 minutes of the players holding out in a locker room, the door of which was guarded by a Boston police officer and with owners threatening the players with blacklisting and punishment, league commissioner Walter Kennedy agreed to the player's demands, and the live broadcast went to air after a slight delay.

Salary cap

In 1983, players and owners reach a historic agreement, that introduced the "

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

" era into professional sports. This was believed to be the first salary cap in any major professional sports league in the United States.

1995 NBA labor dispute

The NBA experienced its first work stoppage, when owners imposed a lockout, that lasted from July 1 through September 12, when players and owners reached an agreement. Because the lockout took place during the off-season, no games were lost.

1998–99 lockout

The second NBA lockout, which ran into the 1998–99 season, lasted almost 200 days, and wiped out 464 regular-season games. After players and owners reached an agreement, the season did not start until February 5, 1999, with each of the 29 NBA teams playing a 50-game schedule.

2011 lockout

The current

collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

was reached in July 2005, and expired at 12:01 EST on July 1, 2011, following completion of the 2010–11 NBA season, resulting in a

lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...

, similar to the 2011 NFL lockout.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

has reported that the owners and players failed to reach an agreement and broke off negotiations, and that the owners began a lockout immediately after the collective bargaining agreement expired. On November 14, the NBPA was converted from a union into a

, enabling the players as individual employees to be represented by lawyers in a class action antitrust lawsuit against the league, calling the lockout an illegal group

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

. The NBPA re-formed as a union on December 1, receiving support from over 300 players, exceeding the requirement for at least 260. After the players and owners reached a new agreement, the lockout ended on December 8 and the 2011–12 season began on

December 25 Events Pre-1600 * 36 – Forces of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, under the command of Wu Han, conquer the separatist Chengjia empire, reuniting China. * 274 – A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aureli ...

with a 66-game schedule.

2013–present

In February 2013, Billy Hunter was ousted unanimously as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) amid charges of nepotism and other concerns. 17 months later on July 29, 2014, Michele Roberts, a Washington, D.C. litigator, was elected as the new executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. She became the first female executive director of NBPA and the first woman to head a major professional sports union in North America.NBA Players Union NBPA elects Michele Roberts as executive director
/ref> She would help avoid an opt-out labor dispute from occurring in 2017 with negotiations taking place early in 2016. In February 2018 at All-Star Weekend, the NBPA unveiled its new marketing and licensing arm, THINK450, the innovation engine of the NBPA. The union controls the intellectual property rights of the 450 players as a group off the court, giving way for brand partnerships and sponsorship opportunities. After the season had been suspended earlier in the year, on June 5, 2020, the NBPA approved negotiations with the NBA to resume the regular season for 22 teams in the NBA Bubble. During the 2020 NBA Finals, NBPA President

Chris Paul Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and “The Point God”, is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one o ...

announced that over 90% of NBA players had registered to vote for the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

. He also stated that 15 teams in the league were 100% registered to vote. By contrast, the league only had 20% of players registered to vote in the 2016 presidential election. The players took multiple actions in the NBA Bubble: writing phrases or names on the back of their jerseys to support the

Black Lives Matter movement Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

, boycotting games in response to the shooting of

Jacob Blake On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driv ...

, and taking a knee during the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

to protest against

racial inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

and

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

Leadership

Executive directors

Alex English, Visitante Ilustre (14935074624) (cropped)

(1970–1988) * Charles Grantham (1988–1995) * Simon Gourdine (1995–1996) * Alex English (1996, interim) * Billy Hunter (1996–2013) * Michele Roberts (2014–2021) * Tamika Tremaglio (2021-present)

Presidents

(1954–1958) *

(1958–1965) *

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson playe ...

(1965–1974) *

Paul Silas Paul Theron Silas (July 12, 1943 – December 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was a two-time NBA All-Star and earned five selections to the N ...

(1974–1980) *

Bob Lanier Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. (September 10, 1948 – May 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who was a center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lanier was inducted in ...

(1980–1985) *

Junior Bridgeman Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman (born September 17, 1953) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Bridgeman played in the National Basketball League (NBA) for twelve years from 1975 until 1987, beginning with the Milw ...

(1985 – February 1988) * Alex English (February 1988 – October 5, 1988) * Isiah Thomas (October 5, 1988 – February 13, 1994) *

Buck Williams Charles Linwood "Buck" Williams (born March 8, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player and former assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. He was well known for his rebounding ability and trademark goggles. Williams, ...

(February 13, 1994 – September 15, 1997) *

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the N ...

(September 15, 1997 – July 10, 2001) * Michael Curry (July 10, 2001 – June 28, 2005) *

Antonio Davis Antonio Lee Davis (born October 31, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also playe ...

(June 28, 2005 – November 19, 2006) *

Derek Fisher Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9, 1974) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. Fisher played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 18 seasons, spending the majority of his career with the Los A ...

(November 19, 2006 – August 21, 2013) *

(August 21, 2013 – August 7, 2021) *

CJ McCollum Christian James McCollum (born September 19, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his third year in the league in 2015–16, he was named the NBA Mo ...

(August 7, 2021 – present)

Vice presidents

;Past *

Roger Mason Jr. Roger Philip Mason Jr. (born September 10, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. He is the former deputy executive director of the NBA Players Association. He is the former president and commissioner of Big3. Early career M ...

(August 21, 2013 – June 23, 2017) *

Steve Blake Steven Hanson Blake (born February 26, 1980) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. After winning the 2002 NCAA Championship with Maryland, Blake was selected by the Washington Wizards with the 38th overall pick in the 2 ...

(August 21, 2013 – June 23, 2017) *

Kyle Korver Kyle Elliot Korver (born March 17, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who currently serves as the director of player affairs and development for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played col ...

(February 12, 2016 – June 23, 2017) *

Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team ...

(June 23, 2017 – February 18, 2019) * Stephen Curry (June 23, 2017 – February 18, 2019) *

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

(June 23, 2017 – February 17, 2020) *

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

(June 23, 2017 – February 2, 2020) *

(February 18, 2018 – August 7, 2021) ;Current * Andre Iguodala (June 23, 2017 – present) *

Garrett Temple Garrett Bartholomew Temple (born May 8, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the LSU Tigers from 2005 until 2009. An NBA jo ...

(June 23, 2017 – present) *

Bismack Biyombo Bismack Biyombo Sumba (born August 28, 1992) is a Congolese professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft by the Sacramento Ki ...

(February 18, 2019 – present) *

Jaylen Brown Jaylen Marselles Brown (born October 24, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the California Golden Bears, being n ...

(February 18, 2019 – present) *

Malcolm Brogdon Malcolm Moses Adams Brogdon (born December 11, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers under Tony Bennett. As ...

(February 18, 2019 – present) *

Kyrie Irving Kyrie Andrew Irving (; lkt, Ȟéla, italic=no, ; born March 23, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected ...

(February 17, 2020 – present) * Grant Williams (August 7, 2021 – present) First vice president

Secretary-treasurers

* James Jones (c. 2014 – July 18, 2017) *

Anthony Tolliver Anthony Lamar Tolliver (born June 1, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Creighton Bluejays, and played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 11 different franchis ...

(February 17, 2018 – March 5, 2021) *

Harrison Barnes Harrison Bryce Jordan Barnes (born May 30, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels before being sele ...

(March 5, 2021 – present)

Initiatives

The NBPA organizes

Sportscaster U. Sportscaster U. is a broadcasting training camp held by National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) in association with the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. The main goal of the camp is to help transition former o ...

, an annual broadcasting training camp at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in association with the

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

. In past ten years, hundreds of NBA players have attended this camp, and went on to successful careers in broadcasting.

Awards

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Players Association The Players Association was a New York based studio group, put together by drummer/arranger Chris Hills and producer Danny Weiss in 1977 on Vanguard Records. Overview The Players Association recordings brought in leading jazz session musicians ...

Sports trade unions of the United States Trade unions established in 1954

History

Founding and struggle for recognition (1954–1957)

Recognition, early successes, stalled negotiations (1957–1964)

1964 All-Star game strike

Salary cap

1995 NBA labor dispute

1998–99 lockout

2011 lockout

2013–present

Leadership

Executive directors

Presidents

Vice presidents

Secretary-treasurers

Initiatives

Awards

See also

References

External links