The widespread belief among players, agents and other stakeholders is that NBPA player representatives will vote to oust executive director Billy Hunter in tommorrow's meeting, reports Howard Beck of the New York Times. A representative from each team will cast a vote, and members of the interim executive committee might also be permitted to vote, according to Beck. As many as 50 players are expected to attend the meeting, during which a new executive committee will also be elected.
Union representatives say no decision has been made about whether to invite Hunter, but Hunter's lawyers insist their client has been made unwelcome. Hunter, placed on indefinite leave of absence after the release of an independent audit critical of his practices while in charge of the union, released a presentation that he claimed was in lieu of the ability to address the players in person at the meeting.
"On every call, I have raised this issue of attending with their lawyers, and they have said consistently: you can continue assuming you are not coming," said Michael Carlinsky, an attorney for Hunter.
Agent Arn Tellem, who represents more than 50 players, is advising his clients to fire Hunter. Speaking with Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal, he laid out recommendations for the players as they meet to decide Hunter's fate, and gave his thoughts on how they should go about replacing the executive director should they choose to let him go.