Detroit Pistons shooting guard Ben Gordon. Photo used under Creative Commons from Flickr user Deepak Popli.

Detroit Piston Ben Gordon is one of four plaintiff’s in the antitrust lawsuit filed against the NBA on Tuesday, and former Piston Chauncey Billups is a plaintiff in a similar filing in California, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Joining Gordon in the lawsuit filed in Minneapolis is Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Tolliver, recent draft pick Derrick Williams, also of the Timberwolves, and free agent Caron Butler. Joining Billups in the California filing is his New York Knicks teammate Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, first-round pick Kawhi Leonard and free agent Leon Powe.

It’s interesting that each group contains 1. Well-paid player(s) 2. A recent draft pick and 3. A free agent. While Ben Gordon is not at the superstar level of Durant or Anthony, he is a pretty good encapsulation of what the players stand to lose if they were to agree to the deal put in front of them by the owners. Gordon was signed as a free agent two years ago, but the league’s latest offer would have greatly restricted the mobility of players such as Gordon and he would have been paid considerably less.

Of course, as Pistons fans can attest two, the past two years of Gordon’s career might be a case in favor of the owners and their need to be protected from their own penchant for overspending. And I say that as an avowed Ben Gordon fan. Hopefully, we can get back to basketball soon and he can put up the numbers in a real offense that he did in his last years in Chicago.