The modern NBA stars remain indebted to Oscar Robertson and his contemporaries for filing a landmark lawsuit against the league in 1970. Many believe that the outcome of this case changed professional basketball forever and allowed the game to grow over the years. Isiah Thomas echoed this exact sentiment.
Zeke highlighted an Instagram clip of Robertson discussing this lawsuit. He shared this video on his story as a tribute to the 1971 NBA champion. This clip surfaced from Robertson’s interview with All The Smoke .
It featured the 85-year-old discussing the reason behind filing this lawsuit. He recounted how it all started as a way to stop the merger between the NBA and the ABA. The case evolved as time went on.
The focus soon shifted to players’ rights. He remembered, “We went to court originally to stop ABA from joining the NBA and then these other things came about. The players’ rights and whether or not you had a contract, could you go somewhere else.
The NBA said you couldn’t. They said they had perpetual rights to you forever, which was not true.” Robertson then reflected on how the lawsuit was partly driven by the players’ contract situations and the media’s bias against black players.
He recalled, “The draft hurt me and I will tell you why because I went to a team that was in disarray. I had to sacrifice my game and then after I got there, the press can be very difficult for you when you are a star. They want you to win, they want you to do well but t.