NBA Lockout Lawsuit Seeks To Block Decertification Or Otherwise Void Contracts

The NBA sued its players on Tuesday, alleging that the National Basketball Players Association's threats of decertification violated federal labor law and that the courts should prevent the union from dissolving in order to file an anti-trust lawsuit. The NBA also filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the NBPA with the National Labor Relations Board, dealing with the same matter.

The NBPA has an outstanding complaint with the NLRB alleging that the NBA has not bargained in good faith. The NBA returned those charges this week, both verbally via commissioner David Stern on Monday and in Tuesday's court filings. In the lawsuit, which SBNation.com has acquired, the NBA cites 22 occassions of threatened decertification.

In perhaps the most interesting -- and threatening, in its own way -- note in the lawsuit, the NBA asks the court to declare that should the NLRB fail to agree that the union's decertification (should it eventually happen) is a sham, the NBA has the legal right to void all existing player contracts. That would be seen as "going nuclear" in terms of where the NBA lockout stands today.

You can read the filings for yourself at the links below. First, the lawsuit:

NBA Lawsuit Against NBPA (August 2, 2011)

Here's the NLRB complaint:

NBA Unfair Labor Practices Complaint (August 2, 2011)