Report: NBAPA makes supplement deal
NEW YORK (AP) - The NBA players' union has agreed to a one-year deal with a supplement company to provide each team with US$5,000 worth of its products and give players a 50 per cent discount, the New York Times reported Friday.
The company, Abbott Nutrition, guarantees its EAS brand supplements do not contain any substances banned by the NBA, the newspaper said.
EAS signed a similar deal with the NFL and its players' association in 2004. However, the deal to provide energy bars and protein shakes to NBA players did not involve the league.
"I didn't really see there was a need to do that," union director Billy Hunter told the Times.
Hunter pointed to the NBA's decisions to exclude the union on matters including the dress code, new ball and crackdown on complaining.
"A lot of that has been precipitated by the league, the moves that the commissioner has decided to make and implement - many we feel are beyond scope of the collective bargaining agreement," Hunter said. "At a minimum, we should have been consulted. As a result, maybe I feel less compelled to consult them on things."
Although the NBA told the Times it has discussed supplement use with the union and would continue to do so, league spokesman Tim Frank told the newspaper: "It has been the NBA policy that our players should not take supplements."
