Derek Fisher fires back at union officials

National Basketball Players Association president Derek Fisher fired back at the union's leadership pushing for his resignation on Friday night.

Fisher, who is calling for an independent review of the union’s business and financial practices under executive director Billy Hunter, reiterated that he wouldn’t resign and called for peers in the league to stand and fight with him.

Hunter has rallied the eight-player executive committee to call for Fisher’s resignation. Hunter and the committee failed Friday in hopes of organizing a conference call among the league’s player representatives to call for Fisher’s ouster.

“I along with many others are extremely disappointed with the executive committee,” Fisher wrote in an email distributed by his publicist Friday night. “Their demand for my resignation and their need to protect the NBPA management and their own best interests instead of protecting the players we were elected to serve is unfortunate.

“I have tried to convey the legal and moral obligations we have as union officers. Sadly, the executive committee has now waged a personal character attack on me to divert attention from the real issue. The truth.”

Fisher, a 37-year-old guard with the Oklahoma City Thunder, has been hearing from players and teams offering support and encouragement. Several players told Yahoo! Sports Friday they support Fisher’s push for union transparency, and they and members of their teams were contacting him to lend support.

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