Michele Roberts is the woman that could bring the NBA to its knees

GET to know Michele Roberts, the new NBA players’ union executive who seems to be spoiling for a fight, because the feared attorney is just getting started.

SHE wants to eliminate the NBA salary cap and transfer power in the league from the owners to the players.

Get to know Michele Roberts, the new NBA players’ union executive director who seems to be spoiling for a labour fight, because the feared attorney is just getting started in the basketball spotlight. Her provocative statements Wednesday to ESPN The Magazine made sure of that.

“Why don’t we have the owners play half the games?” said Roberts, who made history in July by being elected the first female union chief in major North American sports, in reference to a 50-50 split of revenue. “There would be no money if not for the players.

“Let’s call it what it is: There. Would. Be. No. Money. Thirty more owners can come in, and nothing will change. These guys [the players] go? The game will change. So let’s stop pretending.”

The league has a nine-year, $24 billion TV deal set to begin in 2016, but the players have the ability to opt-out of a collective bargaining agreement after the 2016-17 season. Roberts believes a salary cap — which has been in place in the NBA since 1984-85 — is wrong, even “un-American.”

“I don’t know of any space other than the world of sports where there’s this notion that we will artificially deflate what someone’s able to make, just because,” she said. “It’s incredibly un-American. My DNA is offended by it.”

The brassy talk certainly got the attention of NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who answered Thursday with a curt statement in response.

“We couldn’t disagree more with these statements,” he said. “The NBA’s success is based on the collective efforts and investments of all of the team owners, the thousands of employees at our teams and arenas, and our extraordinarily talented players. No single group could accomplish this on its own. Nor is there anything unusual or ‘un-American’ in a unionised industry to have a collective system for paying employees — in fact, that’s the norm.

“The Salary Cap system, which splits revenues between team owners and players and has been agreed upon by the NBA and the Players Association since 1982, has served as a foundation for the growth of the league and has enabled NBA players to become the highest paid professional athletes in the world. We will address all of these topics and others with the Players Association at the appropriate time.”

Originally published as Michele Roberts is the woman that could bring the NBA to its knees