NBA LABOR NEGOTIATIONS TO PICK UP AFTER GRANTHAM'S EXIT?

     Media accounts of the reasons for the resignation of Charles
Grantham as Exec Dir of the NBPA continue to vary.   In the
current issue of SI, Phil Taylor cites sources close to the talks
between the league and union who say that Grantham "was losing
support of some of the players because of what they considered
his hard-line approach."  Taylor adds that with former NBPA
General Counsel Simon Gourdine taking Grantham's place as head of
the union negotiating team -- "and presumably taking a more
conciliatory tack -- some owners have said there could be a new
agreement in place before the playoffs are over. ... The split
between Grantham and the players wasn't especially bitter, but a
rift of any kind represents an opening for the league" (SI, 4/24
issue).  But in Boston, Jackie MacMullan continues to report that
Grantham's spending habits led to his departure.  One agent who
sits on the union's advisory committee notes that during last
summer's antitrust trial, union officials stayed at a "$500-a-day
hotel" and traveled to the courthouse in limos.  The agent:  "I
think we could have survived at the Hyatt and taking cabs."  In
addition, the agent reports that players were assessed an extra
$3,000 for '94 on top of the usual $5,000 in union dues (BOSTON
GLOBE, 4/20).  The NBPA Executive Board is expected to meet today
in Philadelphia (Lacy Banks, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/20).