NBA players filed an antitrust complaint against the league in Minnesota and plan to file another complaint in California later Tuesday.
The first antitrust suit vs. the NBA was filed in Minneapolis, where NFL players had some level of success in a similar court proceeding this summer.
Timberwolves forward Anthony Tolliver, Pistons guard Ben Gordon, free agent forward Caron Butler and Derrick Williams, the second overall draft pick by Minnesota in June who has yet to sign a rookie contract because of the lockout, are listed as plaintiffs in the Minnesota case.
NBA players’ association executive director Billy Hunter said another complaint will be filed in the Northern District of California. Those plaintiffs include Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Leon Powe.
According to the Minnesota complaint, the class-action lawsuit has been broken up into “subclasses” because they are “so numerous and geographically so widely dispersed that joinder of all members is impracticable.”
The plaintiffs argue that the lockout “constitutes an illegal group boycott, price-fixing agreement, and/or restraint of trade in violation of the Sherman Act” and that the owners’ final offer for a new CBA would have “wiped out the competitive market for most NBA players.”
— Reported by the Associated Press
