How Chris Paul balanced playing ball with negotiating labor peace

Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony talk after a players union meeting in 2011. (AP)

When he sat for negotiations of the previous agreement, Paul witnessed an ugly, contentious tussle with the owners and within union ranks that eventually left the players association in shambles. Paul wasn’t considering the presidency when he attended the union’s meeting in Las Vegas in 2013, but Jerry Stackhouse was among the many players who encouraged him to accept the role. After a final nudge from Jada, Paul reluctantly obliged but immediately regretted his decision. The union had no executive director, Silver was getting prepared to replace David Stern as commissioner, and the league appeared destined for more labor strife. Paul also didn’t think he could make the necessary commitment to clean up such a mess. An uncomfortable flight home to Winston-Salem, N.C., made him even more unsettled upon landing.

“I was having almost an anxiety attack, because I was like, ‘I don’t have time for this or that,’ ” Paul told The Vertical. “And I woke up the next morning, saying, ‘I’m going to call and tell them, ‘I can’t do this.’ Knowing the state of the union at the time, it was a tall order.”

Paul eventually calmed down and moved toward hiring Roberts, the first woman to head a union for one of North America’s four major professional sports. Shortly after taking over in 2014, Roberts met with Dikembe Mutombo, who advised her to have more superstar players involved in the union. Having come up during a time when Isiah Thomas and Patrick Ewing ran the union, Mutombo understood the importance of having star power at the negotiating table. The executive committee now has players representing a cross section of the league, but Roberts wouldn’t deny the influence of having Paul, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Stephen Curry involved in the process.

“That’s not to say the non-marquee guy doesn’t make contributions. That’s nonsense. Of course, they do,” Roberts told The Vertical. “[Mutombo] said, ‘Everybody listens to the marquee players. The players do, the fans do, and the owners do.’ They think, if these guys who are making so much money and have so much made, if it’s important enough for them to commit their time and attention to the [players association], then it must be important, and that’s the logic behind having marquee guys not symbolically engaged. … At some point, Chris is going to break my heart and announce that he’s going to leave the executive committee.”

As expected, Paul wouldn’t offer any hints about his plans once his four-year term as union president comes to a conclusion this summer, other than joking, “Michele might get rid of me soon.” Paul told The Vertical that he “couldn’t imagine” working through this last round of negotiations with anyone but Roberts. He certainly hasn’t abdicated his duties since the labor deal, recently reaching out to Silver to offer suggestions on how to improve the All-Star Game after an embarrassing, competition-free, all-you-can-dunk buffet. Paul’s next task is improving the fate of the Clippers, who are 3-3 since Paul returned from injury Feb. 24 but 30-12 overall when he plays this season. But his most time-consuming, off-court commitment — aside from his family — has already proved to be worthwhile.

“It’s almost like a service position,” Paul told The Vertical. “It’s phone calls, it’s meetings, on top of tackling our own different things. A lot of times, people hear CBA and they think [basketball-related income] numbers and they think all of those type of things, but there are different things, even as far as the tights guys wear, the socks, that’s on a game-to-game basis, where we have to have these conversations and talk about what the fans may not notice.

“Obviously, we’re players in this league, but it’s about making sure the game continues to go on. It’s a great feeling. I feel like we’ve done our responsibilities.”

Article Appeared @https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/how-chris-paul-balanced-playing-ball-with-negotiating-labor-peace-163352019.html

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