Nba Tries To Preserve The Union

With the National Basketball Players Association poised to self-destruct at midnight tonight, league and club officials have launched a campaign to dissuade players from voting to decertify the union.

The campaign may become meaningless if the union disclaims interest in representing the players in collective bargaining, as it has promised to do if it does not have an agreement with the league by midnight. The union has called a meeting of player representatives for tonight.

Talks between the union and the league broke off last Thursday with each side saying it had nothing further to offer the other.

But management officials have forged ahead with telephone calls to players, trying to induce them to oppose the demise of the union. By adopting that strategy, the league has undertaken a greater effort to save the union than the union has.

“We are just generally properly informing the players about what’s going on in terms of the labor dispute,” said Russ Granik, the league’s deputy commissioner and chief negotiator.

One agent said a league official called some players who are free agents and suggested that if they voted for decertification, they might find themselves without jobs.

Granik flatly denied that threats were made.

“I don’t spend 24 hours a day with our people, but I have no doubt that that’s an absolute lie,” he said. “This is just flat-out lies by a bunch of agents. I am confident that no one at the NBA is making any threats to players.”

One player who reportedly was called was Horace Grant, who will not be a free agent until next year. Grant could not be reached for comment, but a friend of his said, “He was frustrated about the call.” Jimmy Sexton, Grant’s agent, said, “Horace has asked me not to discuss that conversation.”

Another agent said another league official called Grant Hill, who said the official talked about players being “punished” for favoring decertification. Efforts to reach Hill through his agent were unsuccessful.

Agent Marc Fleisher said M.L. Carr and Jan Volk, two Boston Celtics executives, called Dino Radja in Croatia.

“They told him there would be no season,” Fleisher said after speaking with Radja, his client.

A Celtics aide said Volk and Carr were out of the office and could not be reached Monday.