Via Ken Berger of CBS Sports:
“I think change is needed, top to bottom,” Nets star Deron Williams told CBSSports.com on Friday night, becoming the league’s first high-profile player to call for Hunter’s ouster as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association.
“I don’t think things were getting voted on like they should have been,” Williams said. “… I’m sure there’s guys that are still with Billy, and some guys that aren’t. We’ve just got to figure out what the next step is.”
Hunter, 70, the union’s executive director for 16 years, was the subject of a scathing, 469-page report released Thursday by an independent law firm. While the probe of the union’s finances and business practices under Hunter’s leadership stopped short of finding him criminally liable, it blasted him with a meticulous assault against what it characterized as questionable stewardship of union finances, failure to properly manage conflicts of interest — which his hiring of and business relationships with family members created — as well as a litany of acts that displayed poor judgment and served his personal interests above those of the union.
Most relevant to the union’s future leadership, the law firm found that Hunter’s 2010 contract extension — worth as much as $18 million — was not voted on by the board of 30 player representatives, in violation of the union’s constitution and bylaws.
“That’s what I mean about stuff not being voted on,” Williams said.
Read more: Deron Williams on Hunter report: ‘Change is needed’