Posts tagged NBPA
NBA Docks Clippers’ Draft Picks, Suspends Ballmer in Cap Caper
September 3, 2026 // Article XIII of the CBA prohibits salary-cap circumvention, meaning arrangements by teams to compensate players outside their employment contracts. If teams find ways to compensate players outside the cap, they have engaged in cheating—not only because they have violated rules they agreed to follow, but also because such conduct undermines fair play and gives those teams an unfair advantage over their competitors. This isn’t the first time the NBA has imposed a five-draft-pick penalty for salary-cap circumvention. In 1999, then-NBA commissioner David Stern ordered the forfeiture of five first-round picks from the Minnesota Timberwolves and imposed a $3.5 million fine for a salary-cap scheme (the NBA later restored two of the forfeited picks, so the ultimate penalty was loss of first-round picks in 2001, 2002 and 2004).
PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATIONS WARN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED ON UNION BUSTING
March 7, 2024 // The AFL-CIO Sports Council, which launched in 2022 to assist athletes in unionizing, released the statement Monday. The warning doesn’t mention any specific consequence that could arise. However, players in those leagues could refuse to conduct interviews with SI writers and podcasters, decline to attend SI parties and otherwise boycott creation of SI content. For the storied publication, which for decades influenced the sports industry like no other, a loss of access to players and their unions would make reporting more difficult, and it would both diminish and delegitimize the SI brand.
Labor lobbies up
February 15, 2022 // Nicole Brener-Schmitz, the former Teamsters lobbyist and NARAL political director, has registered to lobby for the Communications Workers of America on a range of issues that includes Democrats’ landmark labor overhaul, the PRO Act; the bipartisan infrastructure bill; congressional Democrats’ voting rights bills; the offshoring of call center jobs; union rights for state and local government workers; and paid leave. CWA also retains Emmer Consulting.