NBA Players Association president Derek Fisher. AP FILE PHOTO
LOS ANGELES — The NBA Players Association executive committee has asked Derek Fisher, a veteran guard now with Oklahoma City, to resign as president of the union.
The NBPA said in a statement Friday posted on its Twitter feed that the executive committee returned an 8-0 vote of no confidence in Fisher on Wednesday.
“The Executive Committee based its decision on numerous instances over the past six months, where Fisher engaged in conduct detrimental to the union, including acting in contravention of the players’ best interests, during collective bargaining, declining to follow the NBPA Constitution, and failing to uphold the duties of the Union President,” the statement said.
Fisher has been the union’s president since 2006.
At Friday’s shoot-around before the Thunder’s game in Sacramento, he spoke briefly to reporters.
“The quickest, most efficient way to say it is to say that I do and I’ve always taken my job as president of the players’ association very, very seriously.”
Union executive director Billy Hunter was dismayed during the NBA lockout that shut down the league when it was rumored that Fisher met privately with NBA commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver in an attempt to resolve the conflict, although that rumor was never substantiated.