NBA owners treat players like plantation workers, says union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler
On Tuesday, NBA union lawyer Jeffrey Kessler accused NBA owners of treating NBA players like plantation workers. (Washington Post, via Zach Lowe)
Jeffrey Kessler, a prominent attorney for the players, accused the owners of treating his clients like “plantation workers,” a comment that drew a furious response from Stern.
Kessler said the owners’ current offer to give the players half of basketball-related income was not a “fair deal” and that the soft salary cap functioned like a hard cap.
“To present that in the context of ‘take it or leave it,’ in our view, that is not good faith,” Kessler, who also represented the NFL players in their labor dispute with the NFL, said in a telephone interview Monday night. “Instead of treating the players like partners, they’re treating them like plantation workers.”
In a phone call Tuesday, Stern blamed Kessler for the stalled talks and said he deserved to be “called to task” for the remark.
“Kessler’s agenda is always to inflame and not to make a deal,” Stern said, “even if it means injecting race and thereby insulting his own clients. . . . He has been the single most divisive force in our negotiations and it doesn’t surprise me he would rant and not talk about specifics. Kessler’s conduct is routinely despicable.”
I’ll let this ignorance speak for itself.
Related posts:
- NBA writers blast owners; Paul Allen wants players to get 40% (!) of BRI?
- NBA lockout update: Owners and players to meet again Thursday
- NBA owners file two lawsuits against the players
- NBA lockout 2011: What the players union press conference meant in regards to making a deal
- David Stern’s threats reek of — what is that? Gasp! — players leverage
Celtics Blog | Jay King | November 8, 2011
I think Kessler is basically right. The problem is that it’s a little late in the game for him to be recognizing that the owners are treating the players without sincerity or respect, and that the real point of these fake negotiations is to make a point to the players about who is in charge and who is not. I think Kessler must know that the players are tired of his act, and Hunters’ act, and are ready to get rid of them, that the players know they’ve been had by their own reps.
As for Stern, how funny that he now gets to pose as the ‘reasonable one’ when he’s the one acting like a thug. He’s the one saying “take our deal, scum, or we burn the house down”.
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