In December 2016, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreed on their latest collective bargaining agreement. The deal’s main points are pretty standard. They cover rookie scaling, player benefits, veteran extensions, player exceptions, and a hotline for NBA players to call the union anytime and from anywhere to complain about referees.
[Record scratch. Record explodes. Record sets the diner on fire.]
Yes, there will be a hotline, where, say Chandler Parsons can call in at any time of night, from any location in the world, while he’s doing anything in the world … to complain about refs. Why isn’t this the single biggest story of the century?
Here’s more from Mitch Lawrence at Sporting News:
Naturally, our first response was, “How can we, as American citizens, gain access to these voice recordings?” While we patiently await the answer to that brave question, here is what we imagine our favorite NBA players would say to this new NBPA Referee Hotline.
Russell Westbrook
Chandler Parsons
Karl-Anthony Towns
Created and written by Tyler Parker
Voiced by Gary Richardson, Carl Tart, and Tyler Parker
Produced by Jason Gallagher
This piece has been updated to reflect that the hotline is a National Basketball Players Association initiative; it is not an NBA-sponsored program.
