Players Union Files Suit Against NBA

The NBA players’ union claims the league artificially reduced the salary cap last season and failed to make benefit payments for several seasons, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Newark, N.J.

The players’ association also filed a counterclaim to a league lawsuit, seeking a judge’s order that the NBA will no longer have player group licensing rights after the 1996-97 season.

The union’s actions came a month after the league charged that several agents and union attorneys were trying to interfere with the new collective bargaining agreement.

In September, player representatives ratified changes to the licensing agreement and to the collective bargaining agreement. The league is now seeking provisions in the licensing pact that the players had not agreed to, said union attorney Jeffrey L. Kessler.

“If we prevail on this . . . we will be free to do all our own licensing . . . starting next season,” Kessler said.

The union believes that the salary cap was improperly reduced by about $75 million in the 1994-95 season because the league deducted payments for the pre-pension benefit plan, which no longer existed, Kessler said.

*

There will be a shakeup in the ownership of the New Jersey Nets if the team isn’t sold to New Jersey Devils owner John McMullen, a source told The Associated Press. The source, close to the NBA, said the seven Nets owners were still mulling an offer by McMullen to buy the team for an estimated $90 million to $96 million despite pressure by Commissioner David Stern for a decision.