Michele Roberts elected NBPA executive director, becomes 1st woman to lead major sports league union

The National Basketball Players Association has a new executive director, after a contentious - and historic - vote Monday night in Las Vegas, Nev. 

Roberts, a lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, received 32 of 34 votes, tweeted Wojnarowski, and replaces Billy Hunter as executive director. (Roberts received 32 of 36 votes, according to USA Today's Sam Amick.) Roberts needed two-thirds of the vote from player reps and the executive committee, who recommended her, according to CBS' Ken Berger. She becomes the first woman to lead a major male professional sports league union.

Roberts has the support of NBPA president and Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul. "She's his choice," Wojnarowski added. 

The vote and process was a messy one, by all accounts: 

It was reported earlier Monday night that player agents were urging their clients to abstain from the vote, and you can read those details in the post below this one. 

Jerry Stackhouse, now retired, attended the meeting and expressed his frustration with the process. He said that the vote was "rammed down our throats" after the executive committee recommended Roberts. Stackhouse was eventually forced to leave the meeting, according to Amick. 

The three candidates for the position - Dallas Mavericks CEO Terdema Ussery, Roberts, and tech industry CEO Dean Garfield - made 45-minute presentations Monday night, after which the players voted, and that was part of the problem, as well: 

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein have more:

By night's end, though, Roberts had won the backing of several leading agents -- Dan Fegan, Jeff Schwartz, Arn Tellem and Happy Walters among them -- and collected the necessary votes to prevail. According to union bylaws, Roberts needed at least 26 of 39 votes -- from the 30 team reps and nine executive committee members -- to be declared the executive director. There were 117 players present at the meeting.

In the end, it's Roberts, and she was met with applause:

And she seems serious about success: 

The NBA released a statement late Monday night regarding Roberts' appointment. Commissioner Adam Silver said:

On behalf of the NBA, I would like to congratulate Michele Roberts on her appointment as the NBPA's new Executive Director and look forward to working with her and the NBPA Executive Committee to ensure the continued health and growth of our game. The partnership between our players and teams is the backbone of the league, and we are eager to continue working with the Players Association to build this relationship. I also want to thank Ron Klempner for his service as interim Executive Director over the past 18 months.