While we shout “four more years!” at Chris Paul for an entirely different reason, here’s Michael Shagrin on the news that CP3 might be taking a prominent role in the Players Union soon:
As the Clippers conclude a regular season of unprecedented success with Chris Paul at the helm, Paul’s inclination towards leadership has been on full display and the spotlight doesn’t seem to be growing any dimmer.
The internal player’s union dispute embroiling the NBPA’s Executive Committee President, Derek Fisher, and the NBPA’s long-time Executive Director, Billy Hunter, has become a public spectacle that forced the remaining members of the Executive Committee to pick a side. With Fisher calling for an audit of the union’s finances and business practices, he was effectively accusing Hunter of mismanagement at best and embezzlement at worst.
With a vote of 8-0, the Committee members sided with Hunter and called for Fisher’s resignation. Embattled from his turbulent, unsettled season and emboldened by his five championship runs, Derek Fisher has made clear that he has no intention of going quietly (or going at all.)
If a changing of the guard were to occur, the seemingly inevitable outcome, the next President is destined to come from the current Executive Committee roster with its knowledge of the lockout negotations and thus the soft tissue of the NBA’s agenda. It is looking increasingly as if the line of succession favors the precocious Chris Paul:
Los Angeles Clippers guard and committee member Chris Paul [is] emerging as a potential replacement.
NBPA vice president and Washington Wizards guard-forward Maurice Evans told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday that Paul would have to be nominated and elected. Until that could happen, executive committee first vice president and Boston Celtics guard Keyon Dooling would be interim president.
“We can’t, by bylaws, say who is going to be the president; that would have to go to a vote,” Evans said. “Chris Paul’s name may circulate as one of the players who could fulfill that role, given that he’s a younger player (at 26), on the executive committee and played a huge role during the lockout. He has the respect of a lot of players.”
