Antonio Davis

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Antonio Lee Davis (born October 31, 1968 in Oakland, California) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. Davis is also the former president of the NBA Players Association, also known as the NBPA.

Davis played college basketball at UTEP under coach Don Haskins from 1986 to 1990. He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers that year (second round, 45th overall pick), but went to play for teams in Europe for Greek giant Panathinaikos (1990-91, 1991-92) and Italy's Philips Milano (1992-93). In 1993 Davis returned and signed with the Pacers as a free agent. Antonio was part of the "Davis Brothers" tandem of Power Forwards on the Pacers alongside Dale Davis. Despite rarely starting, Antonio was paid starter money and provided much physicality and hustle off the bench.

During the off-season in 1999, Davis was traded to the Toronto Raptors on draft day for the 5th pick, which the Pacers used on Johnathan Bender. Davis was elected to the NBA All-Star team for the first time in his career as a Raptor. During the 2003-04 season he was traded to the Chicago Bulls, where he fit in well as a veteran influence on a young team. Just before the start of training camp of the 2005-06 season Davis was traded along with Eddy Curry to the New York Knicks, for Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas and Jermaine Jackson.

On January 18, 2006, Davis was ejected from a Knicks-Bulls game for going into the stands and confronting a fan he alleges was intoxicated and abusive. He said he was concerned about his wife, whom he thought he had seen falling back and being touched by the fan. His wife claims that the fan was using inappropriate language around the Davises' child, and had asked him to stop, prompting harassment from the fan. Though public opinion allegedly swung in Davis' favor, the NBA suspended him for five games on January 19. The fan in question, Michael Axelrod, has stated that he was attacked by Davis' wife, and his lawyer revealed plans to sue for roughly a million dollars and a public apology by the Davises. Mr. Davis responded by stating, "I'm not apologizing to anybody for anything." On January 23 Davis and Axelrod settled their disputes outside of court issuing the following joint statement.

"It's clear that the episode at the United Center last week, and its aftermath, evolved from some misunderstandings. This has produced regrets from all parties involved. Common sense strongly suggests that we collectively put this episode behind us and move on. That's what the Davis' and Michael Axelrod plan to do, and we hope everyone else will, as well." [1]

On the international level, he played for Team USA in the 2002 World Championship.

Davis was elected as president of the Players' Association at the union's annual convention on June 28, 2005.

His ex-residence was in Naperville, Illinois. He now lives in New York with his wife Kendra, with whom he has a son and daughter..

On February 3, 2006, the Toronto Raptors traded Jalen Rose, a first round draft pick (from the Denver Nuggets), and an undisclosed sum of cash (believed to be around $3 million) to the New York Knicks for Antonio Davis. Davis went on to start eight games for the Raptors before missing the next twelve with an ailing back injury. On March 23, 2006, Davis was released by the Raptors after his injury was diagnosed by doctors as season ending.

Davis, now retired, is an assistant coach (he actually just came to one game) for MPA's basketball team.[citation needed] There is some speculation that Davis could make a return late in the 06-07 season. Several playoff bound teams such as the Bulls are lacking at the Power Forward position and could use him as a late season spark plug off the bench.

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Preceded by
Michael Curry		 NBA Players Association President
2004–2006		 Succeeded by
Derek Fisher
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