National Basketball Players Association president Derek Fisher asked that the union have an external audit performed on its business practices, and now Bloomberg News sheds some light as to why he may have made that request: since 2001, the NBPA paid almost $4.8 million to executive director Billy Hunter’s family members and their professional firms.
Fisher’s call for an outside audit did not go over well with Hunter. He called for Fisher’s resignation and summoned the unanimous support of the eight-member executive committee.
As detailed by Bloomberg, here are Hunter’s family’s financial connections to the union: his daughter and daughter-in-law are on union staff; another daughter is special counsel at a law firm used by the PA; and Hunter’s son is a principal at a financial firm that was paid $45,526 a month for work performed for the union.
NBPA spokesperson Dan Wasserman told Bloomberg that the union is aware of all of this but said Hunter was not available for comment.
“It’s not a criminal act, but it’s not something I would do,” Marvin Miller, the famous former head of the baseball players union, said.
Robert Barbato, a business ethics professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said in light of the nepotism, he understands Fisher’s concerns.
“The involvement of so many family members who are receiving significant economic benefits raises enough of an ethical concern that an independent review seems required,” Barbato told Bloomberg in an e-mail. “Unless there is a reasonable explanation for calling for his resignation, I’m especially concerned that the executive committee has tried to silence Derek Fisher.”
Jerome Williams, a former NBA player and executive board member, believes that an outside examination is warranted.
“It’s a fine line because of how many players are represented and the amount of money that’s influenced by one person,” Williams told Bloomberg. “As a former vice president, I would have to advise the group that it would be wise to diversify.”
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