Stern Blasts Agent

In an escalation of the heated rhetoric surrounding the NBA’s labor mess, an angry David Stern blasted agent David Falk, saying he is “casting aspersions” on some players who have endorsed the proposed labor deal.

Five days before players are to vote on whether to dissolve their union or accept the labor agreement, the NBA commissioner accused Falk of disparaging his own clients and distorting components of the deal. The controversy over the new collective bargaining agreement has divided the players, pitting such superstars as Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing against Karl Malone and John Stockton.

Falk said, in comments published in the New York Times, that a number of prominent NBA players who endorsed the deal after it was negotiated Aug. 8 would have been hurt financially if the proposed work rules had been in force when their current contracts were implemented.