The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t want him and traded him to the
Houston Rockets. The Rockets didn’t want him either and bought out his
contract allowing him to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder. And now the National Basketball Players Association’s executive
committee is asking Derek Fisher to step down.
Man this has been a rough year for Fisher. One of the
hardest working and classiest guys in the league is being forced out of his
position as the NBPA’s president in a power move by the NBPA’s executive
director Billy Hunter.
There has been a lot of mudslinging going on between those
two recently. Hunter has accused Fisher of meeting privately with NBA
commissioner David Stern during the lockout in order to make a deal. While the
allegation hasn’t been proven, Hunter was successful in getting the NBPA’s
executive committee to ask for Fisher’s resignation.
Fisher refused to resign and has asked players to seek an
audit of the NBPA to review some of the issues that he feels the players’ union
has with its business practices and finances. Fisher has accused Hunter of
misappropriating union funds and many believe that this call for a business
review is directed specifically at Hunter.
Hunter was successful in convincing the executive committee that
the audit wasn’t necessary but it leads one to wonder why he would oppose an
audit if he had nothing to hide. During the lockout, Hunter led the charge in
pleading for the NBA to be more transparent with its auditing system which is
why it is so weird to see him fight so hard against the internal audit
requested by Fisher.
In the meanwhile, Hunter is combing the NBPA’s bylaws to see
if there is another way to remove Fisher since Fisher has refused to step down
involuntarily. Players have come out in support of Fisher over the past few
days but alas this saga is far from over.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
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