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The pivotal arbitration showdown between the NBA Players Association and the NBA over the Bird rights of waived players is expected to take place in mid-June, according to a source with knowledge of the negotiations. The result of that hearing will be of utmost importance for the New York Knicks. ESPN.com

New York Knicks, CBA, NBPA 

NBA players union executive director Billy Hunter utilized union funds to support former NBA forward Charles Smith's attempt to overthrow the National Basketball Retired Players Association, sources say, one of several maneuvers that inspired union president Derek Fisher to call for a business review of the union's activity. The players' union is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, sources have confirmed. ESPN.com

Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Charles Smith 

NBA players union executive director Billy Hunter utilized union funds to support former NBA forward Charles Smith's attempt to overthrow the National Basketball Retired Players Association, sources say, one of several maneuvers that inspired union president Derek Fisher to call for a business review of the union's activity. ESPN.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Charles Smith 

The players' union is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, sources have confirmed. Recent reports by both Yahoo! Sports and Bloomberg News detailed a number of other expenditures and hirings made by Hunter without executive committee oversight. The financial support of Smith is another one, sources said. ESPN.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Charles Smith 

Several months later, as Smith fought to win back his position, the NBPA's late lead counsel, Gary Hall, told a retired players' association representative that the NBPA was in full support of Smith, would pay his legal fees and play "the race card," if necessary, sources said. Smith is black and Danny Schayes, selected to replace him, is white. Hall's comments were made, sources added, with Hunter present. ESPN.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Charles Smith 

Dooling would be a logical front office candidate considering his experience with the business side of the game. As the vice president of the NBA Players Association, he was in the thick of last summer’s lockout. “The union experience was great,” Dooling said. “Just being able to negotiate against some of the best businessmen in the world with our owners it was a great experience. To see the way (commissioner) David Stern runs his ship over there is amazing. It really gives you something to look forward to maybe for the next phase of your career.” Dooling has other business ventures outside of basketball, but it’s hard to imagine him straying far from the game. “We don’t just live in the basketball world,” Dooling said. “I have other things running parallel to my career, but basketball is my passion.” Boston Herald

Boston Celtics, Keyon Dooling, NBPA 

As National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter and President Derek Fisher were engaged in a battle for control of the union last week, NBA agents and sports labor experts questioned whether either one, or the union itself, would survive the increasingly nasty, public fight. The NBPA executive committee voted 8-0 to ask for Fisher’s resignation on April 20, but Fisher vowed not to resign, and last week saw a number of published reports questioning the union’s finances and the fact that Hunter’s three children and daughter-in-law either were on the NBPA payroll or worked for firms that were paid by the union. Some agents and basketball sources said more players were on Hunter’s side than Fisher’s; others said more favored Fisher. Still others, including several powerful NBA agents who represent large blocks of players, said they don’t trust either of the key figures and wondered how the union as it now stands serves the players’ interests. “Maybe that is the solution,” said one agent, “that we just decide to be a trade organization. We could just be a trade association and monitor benefits and things of that nature.” Sports Business Daily

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Agents 

The National Basketball Players Association, already in turmoil after President Derek Fisher asked for independent reviews of its finances and business practices, is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, the union said in a statement. Union Executive Director Billy Hunter was notified of the investigation by subpoena for documents on April 25, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The people were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation. “The NBPA will cooperate fully with the government’s investigation,” the union statement said. Bloomberg

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

Steve Kauffman: classic political strategy by NBPA; lie and deny. Stretch it out,get few more pay checks.Great journalism has exposed emperor has no clothes Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

The National Basketball Players Association, already in turmoil after President Derek Fisher asked for independent reviews of its finances and business practices, is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, the union said in a statement. Union Executive Director Billy Hunter was notified of the investigation by subpoena for documents on April 25, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The people were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation. “The NBPA will cooperate fully with the government’s investigation,” the union statement said. The union has appointed a six-member special committee that consists of players representatives and executive committee members to oversee an internal inquiry that will include a financial audit. Bloomberg

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

During collective bargaining, there were rumors that Fisher went to the NBA behind Hunter's back in an attempt to broker a deal. Sources with direct knowledge of the process insist it never happened. Others, including apparently the NBPA executive committee, evidently believe that, or something like it, did happen. ESPN.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

So this is not a fight about whether Hunter will leave. But when. And to that end, sources in the know are adamant Hunter will not step down anytime soon, even if holding on to his job requires a massive battle. ESPN.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

On his way out of Madison Square Garden Wednesday night, Paul stopped to address a gathering storm far more ominous than any basketball game, no matter where it's played. Paul, the only All-Star on the nine-member executive committee of the National Basketball Players Association, briefly addressed the internal power struggle between executive director Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher. "I don't have any perspective on it right now," Paul told CBSSports.com. "I'm so locked in on the playoffs. ... I havent been able to talk to anybody or know really too much what's going on." CBSSports.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Paul, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

Fellow committee members have mentioned Paul as a possible replacement for Fisher, who has two years left on his term as president and vowed in a memo to the players and a public statement last week that he would not step aside. "I'm honored," Paul said Wednesday night, "but I don't even think about that." As for what he'd like to see happen next in the battle for control of the NBPA, Paul said, "Not a clue. I just feel like it's messy right now." CBSSports.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Paul, Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

On the weekend of the 2009 All-Star Game in Phoenix, Pat Garrity, the treasurer of the National Basketball Players Association, walked into a conference room inside the Sheraton Phoenix determined to make one final stand in his decade of service to the union. Garrity had warned peers and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter prior to the '09 executive committee meeting that he planned to challenge Hunter on business practices, and several players purposely steered clear of the confrontational scene. In the aftermath of the U.S. banking crisis in 2008, Garrity had grown increasingly suspicious of an investment bank project that Hunter had been pitching to the executive committee and player representatives. For Garrity and some peers in the NBPA, the investment made no sense. Yahoo! Sports

Billy Hunter, NBPA, Pat Garrity 

Hunter had sought a $7 million to $9 million investment from the union into Interstate Net Bank of Cherry Hill, N.J., a financial institution that federal and state banking regulators had slapped with debilitating "cease-and-desist" orders, sources said. Garrity discovered information online that left him feeling obligated to confront Billy Hunter: Hunter's son, Todd, had a seat on the board of directors of Interstate Net Bank. Yahoo! Sports

Billy Hunter, NBPA, Pat Garrity 

When reached by phone, Garrity confirmed the description of events that sources provided Yahoo! Sports. He declined to further comment. Hunter declined comment for this story through a union spokesman. Yahoo! Sports

Billy Hunter, NBPA, Pat Garrity 

At the meeting, Hunter left the talking to longtime ally and NBPA chief counsel, Gary Hall, and Hall wasn't offering answers. Garrity and Hall screamed back and forth, and Garrity's questions weren't addressed, witnesses said. Finally, witnesses said, Hall – who died on May 11, 2011 – told Garrity that he was a retired player, no longer welcome on the executive committee, and that security would be called to remove him unless he left on his own. With executive committee members Keyon Dooling and Adonal Foyle appearing uncomfortable – and NBPA president Derek Fisher refusing to use his authority to demand Garrity be allowed to speak over Hall's yelling – Garrity left the room, left the NBPA and never returned again. Fisher declined comment. Yahoo! Sports

Billy Hunter, NBPA, Pat Garrity 

The potential conflicts were far deeper and connective than Garrity realized at the time, a Yahoo! Sports investigation has discovered. Prim Capital controlled 200,000 shares of ISN Bank stock, according to a 2010 ISN Bank letter to stockholders. In addition to Todd Hunter, another Prim employee, executive Carolyn Kaufman, joined the bank's board of directors of ISN in 2004 and was paid $97,000 and $90,000 in consecutive years, according to a KPMG audit of ISN Bank in January 2008 that Yahoo! Sports obtained. She owned 250 shares of the stock, according to the March 2010 ISN letter to stockholders. The audits had been available online. Yahoo! Sports

Billy Hunter, NBPA 

The pursuit of the $7 million to $9 million bank investment didn't end in the February 2009 meeting when Garrity raised questions with Derek Fisher, union lawyers and several members of the executive committee in the room. Despite ISN Bank officials sending dire shareholder letters over these same months, Hunter stayed on course seeking an investment from the NBPA. Four months after Garrity confronted Hunter, the push for investment into the failing ISN Bank was still alive at an NBPA meeting in Las Vegas in late June 2009, sources said. The pursuit of ISN Bank eventually ended as ISN spiraled beyond revival in early 2010, sources said. The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance closed the bank in September 2010. The FDIC bailout of Interstate Net Bank cost taxpayers $23.9 million. Yahoo! Sports

Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Pat Garrity