Wow, that is quite the reframing. It’s a union of the players, not everyone involved in making an NBA game happen. There’s no arena to employ people if the game doesn’t exist. And the history of professional sports is filled with worker exploitation. I would have thought an industry that is a true meritocracy might be the one place all of the 10x developers here might understand a union’s purpose.
No, it's a union; you can find them listed on the DOL website as a union if you look them up.
It's not uncommon for different workers to be represented by different unions in a single workplace. UNITE HERE, among others, represents some stadium workers.
What they definitely aren't is a union representing the employees of the NBA. They are a tiny minority of the employees, who take only for themselves.