When the NBA Board of Governors voted on Monday in Dallas to opt
out of the collective bargaining agreement, it was the first
grenade thrown in what promises to be a long, ugly labor war.
The board's actions were not unexpected, and players are
preparing to be locked out by the owners on July 1. But
according to players' association executive director Billy
Hunter, the union's resolve is firmer than it was during the
last long lockout, in the summer of 1995, and the players have
the numbers to decertify—the step that's necessary before they
can sue the league.
Although many issues, including the rookie salary cap and the
division of money from merchandising, will be revisited during
negotiations for a new CBA, the league is publicly beating the
drum on the need for a punitive policy on marijuana use. At the
All-Star Game in February, commissioner David Stern vowed to
take a tough stance on this issue, no doubt in response to the
avalanche of negative publicity generated when a number of the
NBA's top players, including Allen Iverson, Rider and Chris
Webber, were busted on marijuana-possession charges over the
previous 10 months.
The union has already said that it is willing to discuss
including marijuana in the drug policy of a new agreement, but
one thing is certain: It will not agree to a related proposal
that the league made last January, calling for the random
testing of both rookies and veterans. A first positive test
would result in mandatory drug counseling. (In more extreme
first-offense cases, such as a criminal conviction for
possession of marijuana, a five-game suspension would be
imposed.) A player testing positive a second time would receive
an automatic six-month suspension without pay and would be
required to submit to more intensive counseling. A third
positive would result in a lifetime ban; the same penalty would
apply to any player found guilty of distribution of marijuana.
The NBA anticipated that the union would resist such stiff
penalties. "This was merely our initial proposal," deputy
commissioner Russ Granik says. "We told them to review it and
give us a counterproposal, but we never heard anything back."
The union says it did not feel compelled to respond because the
league's drug policy had already been spelled out in the CBA.
While player reps have discovered that the majority of their
peers are in favor of including marijuana in a new drug policy,
hammering out the specifics could take time. In fact, the
biggest stumbling block may be not the penalties but the matter
of random testing. According to sources who attended the union
meeting during All-Star weekend, more than 70% of the players at
the meeting adamantly opposed random testing.
Issue date: March 30, 1998
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