A new day dawns for NBA players.

• Author: Zirin, Dave
• Position: EDGE OF SPORTS

For the last several years, the weakest union in professional sports has been the one representing the players of the National Basketball Association. Bereft of leadership since the 2013 ouster of Executive Director Billy Hunter, players have seen the values of franchises skyrocket while their own collective bargaining rights and voice in the sport crumbled.

When recordings surfaced of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making a series of racist rants, the rudderless players were compelled, amidst the 2014 playoffs, to draft the former player and current mayor of Sacramento, the avowedly anti-union Kevin Johnson, to be their spokesperson. Yes, the husband of anti-union avatar Michelle Rhee was, for a very tragic moment in the history of sports unionism, in charge of the National Basketball Players Association. Sure enough, when the smoke had cleared, Sterling walked away with a $2 billion payday, his wife, Shelly, retained a ceremonial role with the team, and nothing had been done about the fact that the notorious slumlord had been coddled by the NBA for more than three decades.

But a new day is dawning. Finally, at long last, the players have elected an executive director for their union, a surprising choice, not merely because this leader is more than a foot shorter than the average person in the National Basketball Players Association. The choice of this leader was shocking because this leader is a she. Her name is Michele Roberts, and she is more than just the first woman to head a professional sports union. She has become, without question, the most powerful woman in professional sports.

Very few "insiders" thought Roberts, a high-powered D.C. attorney, had a chance to win this position. The players, they believed, were simply too sexist to accept female leadership. Yet she won overwhelmingly. According to...