Derek Fisher is Being Asked To Step Down as Head of NBA Players Association

Via Yahoo! Sports:

At the urging of executive director Billy Hunter, the National Basketball Players Association’s executive committee has voted to seek the resignation of union president Derek Fisher, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Fisher has flatly refused to step down and has been working to gather a coalition of players to challenge Hunter’s business and financial practices, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Fisher has told peers he will not resign, but rather fight Hunter for further transparency regarding the NBPA.

This comes on the heels of the news that Billy Mitchell canceled the internal audit request that was voted upon by Derek Fisher and the executive committee. Mitchell convinced the committee that the audit was fueled by personal interest.

Adding intrigue to the situation (from WTLC's point of view), is that Derek Fisher now plays for the Thunder, which is one of the most drama-free locker rooms in the NBA. The Thunder don't have any other members of the executive committee on the team, but their main representative is Kevin Durant, with Russell Westbrook being the alternate representative.

Regardless of what I think of Fisher's play on the court (which I still think is atrocious) or what his intentions might be, I support his motion for an internal audit. The more transparency any organization operates with, the less potential there is for corruption.

I don't know who did what, and the facts still remain unclear. But one clarity in this whole ordeal is that the players caved in, and accepted a very bad CBA. The NBPA waited until the 11th hour to accept the agreement, while the owners continually raised the stakes. The result was an agreement that satisfied nothing but the owner's pocketbooks. The players ended up cutting their share of profits, shrinking the salary cap, shortening the length of contracts, having ambiguity about the start of the season leaving certain players trapped overseas....just read this article.

In the short term, the one thing we have to hope for is that this drama doesn't affect Derek Fisher, and that it doesn't carry over to the locker room. With the Thunder's performance in April being less than ideal and Fisher considered as a cool head among a team including Kendrick Perkins and Russell Westbrook, the last thing they need is concern over the leadership of the NBPA dividing the team off the court, or Fisher's performance being adversely affected.