Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant Among NBA Players Filing Antitrust Complaints
According to a tweet from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, Billy Hunter, former executive director of the dissolving NBA players' union, will be filing an antitrust complaint "tonight in N. District of California vs. NBA."
The plaintiffs in the case, according to a tweet from David Aldridge of TNT and NBA.com, will be "Melo, Billups, Durant, Powe, Leonard" -- that is, Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Kevin Durant, Leon Powe, and Kawhi Leonard.
In a further series of tweets, Aldridge cites attorney David Boies as saying that a second lawsuit is being filed in Minnesota, that players are seeking damages, and adding "I think it is in everybody's interest to resolve this promptly. The longer this goes on, the greater damages the teams will face".
A separate report in the Dallas Business Journal indicates that the players listed on the Minneapolis lawsuit are Caron Butler, Ben Gordon, Anthony Tolliver, and Derrick Williams.
According to Berg, Boies cited NBA commissioner David Stern's ultimatum to the players in the complaint. "That's not collective bargaining," Boies said, according to Berg. Therein lies the crux of this latest facet of the ongoing debate: the players maintain that the owners' current posture represents a boycott of NBA teams and a violation of antitrust laws.
In addition to the lawsuits in California and Minnesota, Berg reports, Boies adds that other lawsuits could be filed.
