Union Opposes NBA Player Draft

Larry Fleisher, general counsel for the NBA Players Assn., said Tuesday that the union hopes to do away with the draft next year.

Russell Granik, executive vice president of the NBA, said that Fleisher has the right to ask for anything he wants in collective bargaining. “But I can assure you that there will be no agreement with the players’ association that doesn’t include a draft,” he added.

Richard Bloch, owner of the Phoenix Suns and chairman of the NBA’s board of governors, said that ending the draft system would destroy parity.

To which Fleisher responded sarcastically: “Yeah, and they will all get like the (New York) Knicks and get to be the worst club in the league.”

The Knicks, winner of the NBA’s inaugural draft lottery in 1985, picked No. 1 last June, taking Georgetown center Patrick Ewing. They currently are last in the Atlantic Division and have one of the league’s poorest records.