The National Basketball Players Association is not having a great week. After FOXSports.com's Jason Whitlock published a piece alleging that players' union president Derek Fisher had made a side deal on a 50-50 revenue split with NBA commissioner David Stern, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday that, essentially, NBPA director Billy Hunter is trying to slime Fisher.
Fisher had sent a letter to the union membership on Monday forcefully pushing back against Whitlock's report; Whitlock responded by doubling down. Fisher and Hunter each put out statements late Tuesday, with Hunter pushing back against all of the allegations and commending Fisher for his work. According to ESPN's Marc Stein, Fisher later released a statement demanding retractions from Whitlock and FOXSports.com.
ESPN also reports that union leadership -- Fisher, Hunter and the executive board of player representatives -- plans to meet Thursday in New York to talk strategy and, one would assume, address all of this alleged subterfuge.