Berger provides some insight into the legal strategies available to the players' association. The current NBPA plan is to pursue a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board. But some NBA agents wish the NBPA would do what the NFL players did -- decertify and go the anti-trust route.

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"The NBPA has both options available to it, and no deadlines or restrictions on when to use them. This is an advantage, labor lawyers say, but deciding between the two paths carries great risk.

"That's a tough call," Clifton said. "Do you feel you have a better cause of action through NLRB legally and from the standpoint of timing and chances of success vs. the courts, where it becomes an anti-trust action?"

. . . . . .

If the threat of losing games -- or possibly, the entire season -- isn't enough to compel both sides to hammer out a deal, the 2011-12 season will be in the hands of lawyers, judges and a labyrinth of legality. The outcome would be difficult to predict, and the timeframe possibly lengthy, depending on which legal strategies each side pursued."

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