Players File Antitrust Suit Against NBA

(NewsCore) - NBA players filed an antitrust complaint against the NBA on Tuesday, the first official move in taking the 138-day labor dispute to the courts.

The complaint was filed in a Northern California court, said Billy Hunter, who was executive director of the union before it disbanded Monday. The plaintiffs in the case will be New York Knicks stars Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups, as well as Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant, Memphis' Leon Powe and rookie Kawhi Leonard.

The suit alleges that the owners ended the collective bargaining process after NBA commissioner David Stern issued an ultimatum on the owners' proposal last week and that "the express purpose of Defendants' group boycott and price fixing is to reduce the salaries, terms, benefits and conditions of employment available in the market for players."

Separately Tuesday, an NBA spokesman confirmed that games through Dec. 15 have been canceled.

Players' lawyer David Boies said the players chose the California court believing it has a tendency to move on cases quickly, but he provided no timetable for the case. The players are seeking damages that would amount to triple the losses they incurred during the lockout. A collective bargaining agreement would be separate from the suit.

An NBA spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the suit plans. The league filed a lawsuit earlier this year in hopes of preventing an antitrust claim by the union.

Talks broke down between the two sides when they could not agree on how to split the league's $4 billion in revenue and systematic issues like salary cap structure and ability for players to change teams more freely.

Read more: Wall Street Journal