The NBA labor negotiations are scheduled to resume on Saturday after several high-profile players reportedly mixed things up on the NBPA side of the story earlier this week, pushing the threat to decertify the Players Association union currently under Billy Hunter's leadership. This move to assert some leverage by the players will either expedite a settlement or create a season-crushing quagmire that could leak into next season.

The decertification effort comes a few months late with Paul Pierce and Dwyane Wade among the most-vocal proponents of the strategy and appears as though some big agents are trying to seize control of the proceedings from Billy Hunter. If neither side blinks in the upcoming round of talks we will find out if this is just saber rattling by some big-name players or if they truly have the backing of enough players to vote for decertification.

Man, this is painful. Check out the links with more info on this mess heading into the meetings tomorrow.

• Players discuss decertification on call - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
• N.B.A. Talks to Resume Saturday - NYTimes.com
• Group of NBA players discuss possibility of decertification - Sam Amick - SI.com
• NBA Lockout: Players Light Up The Torches, Threaten To Burn Down Talks - SBNation.com
• NBA -- Decertification threat a strong message - ESPN
• New NBA labor talks set, but decertification reports surface | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
• Chris Herren Documentary Shows Power Of Leaders, Failure Of System - SBNation.com