Bob Cousy on how he helped found the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA)
In a recent interview conducted by NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg, Hall of Fame Boston Celtics point guard Bob Cousy opened up about his role in helping to create the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) in his playing days, a move that he believes paved the way for today’s players — including the Celtics stars of today, like Jaylen Brown — signing multi-million-dollar contracts. “My last year, they told me I was the highest-paid player in the league, I made $35,000,” said Cousy.
“One of the things I’m most proud about is starting the Players Association,” he added, “because that somehow has lent itself, 60 years later, in terms of the interaction between the Players Association and the owners, to guys signing $300 million contracts for five years for playing a child’s game.”
“So I celebrate that. Really. I’m not sitting here pissed off as hell because they’re making all that money and I didn’t. I’m so pleased that I had a hand, I think, in setting the table for this.”
“It allows me to be part of the legacy of this wonderful league and sport that I was involved in, intimately, for 30 years. Or still am, in some ways,” related the Celtics great.
“It gives me a place in history. Hopefully, the league will stay alive and the Celtics will be able to win it all.”
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