Billy Hunter on Dissolving the NBA Players' Union

The dissolution [of the players’ union] happened when we got the last ultimatum, on Nov. 10. We were at the Helmsley Hotel [in New York], where we’d been locked up in a room for 14 to 15 hours. [NBA Commissioner] David Stern said, “The negotiations are over. You either take it, or you suffer the consequences.” If we didn’t take the last proposal, the owner group had decided they’d go from the 50/50 [revenue share] deal they were offering to 47 percent [for the players]. And if we didn’t take it at 47, it would go back to 43. So you’re talking about going from a $350 million-a-year giveback to $700 million, almost a billion-dollar-a-year giveback. The players as a group decided, we can’t accept this.

Until then we had no intent to dissolve the union. The primary hurdle you have to get over is that the dissolution of the union is not a sham, or being perpetrated solely to obtain leverage. We didn’t even consider it in July. The agents were insisting that we do it, and we said no. It’s not something that you take lightly. I still agonize over it. In July it would not have been appropriate. Everybody would have seen through it. We were still negotiating with the NBA. I did not think we were close to a deal, but I didn’t want to give up.