Nba Stars Talk It Up

The start of the 1995-96 NBA season could be in jeopardy.

A group of approximately 25 high-profile players - including Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Alonzo Mourning - met by conference call Monday afternoon and reaffirmed their efforts to decertify the NBA players union and reject a tentative labor agreement.

The dissident players are expected to announce today a news conference in Chicago on Wednesday to explain their reasoning behind decertification.

Also among those on the call Monday were Magic players Brian Shaw and Dennis Scott, Indiana’s Reggie Miller, Phoenix’s A.C. Green, Washington’s Chris Webber, Boston’s Xavier McDaniel and Latrell Sprewell of Golden State.

Neither Scott nor Shaw returned telephone messages regarding the conference call. The agents who were part of the call did not want to be quoted about the details. Many of those with big-name clients participated, including David Falk, Ron Grinker, Len Elmore, Eric Fleisher, Arm Tellum and Keith Glass. The call was organized by Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney representing the disgruntled players.

League owners and union leadership agreed last week to a labor agreement, hoping to end the labor/ management dispute and crush the decertification effort that began in June.

The National Labor Relations Board will conduct a vote Aug. 30 and Sept 7 for the union to either accept the deal or decertify the union. NBA commissioner David Stern already predicted there would be no 1995-96 season if the union is decertified.