It's hard for workers not (yet) in a union to understand that the action taken by NBA players is a very visible example of stands union workers take all the time, big and small. A small example from my own experience:

a supervisor tried to make us change 1500ft of rail on a 100° day with no water. We told him we'd go out of he just went and bought some bottled water, but we were new-ish and he didn't want to back down. He told us if we didn't get to work, he'd make is use hand tools...

...So a few is politely told him we still weren't going. (to quote my buddy Scott: "You can puff out that skinny little chest all you want, we still ain't fucking going.") Took about 15 minutes before he broke and backed down. That kind of shit happens all the time...

...because being in a union trains you form up, stand shoulder to shoulder, and fight back. That's why bosses and owners hate labor unions so much. The NBA players have a "no strike" clause in their contract and still, they walked off. They're stronger than the contract.