NBA players re-elect Michele Roberts as executive director
LAS VEGAS (AP) Michele Roberts was unanimously re-elected Tuesday to another four-year term as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association.
Roberts first moved into the role in 2014, about two years before the players and the league agreed on the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. The extension means that Roberts will almost certainly be deeply involved in negotiating whatever the next CBA will look like.
''She has been nothing short of amazing,'' union president Chris Paul of the Houston Rockets said.
The union was without an executive director for more than a year before Roberts got the job, and she said overcoming the skepticism of players - who were reeling after the way Billy Hunter's term as director came to a turbulent end - was critical to her success.
''When I got here, the players had every reason to be as suspicious of me as they could possibly be,'' Roberts said. ''They had every reason to wonder and question my motives and my ability to deliver.''
Her second term will end in 2022, when both the players and the league can decide to opt out of the current CBA. She said the union is already preparing for what the next CBA will look like.
''Even as you sign the last CBA, you're preparing for the next one,'' Roberts said.
