Falk was one of the key figures in the 1995 NBA lockout. The lockout originally occurred when the players wanted a soft salary cap, while the owners wanted a hard salary cap. Falk led a rebellion on the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) by establishing a dissident faction of 16 players and a number of agents (including players Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Reggie Miller, and fellow agents Marc Fleisher and Arn Tellem) that began advocating for NBPA decertification. The goal was to strip NBA management of antitrust protection, making the salary cap and other forms of collective bargaining violations of antitrust laws, win a settlement in court, and then immediately re-form the Players' Union. NBA Commissioner David Stern criticized Falk's involvement in the negotiations, saying that he was "trashing his own clients." Kenny Gattison, the Charlotte Hornets' player representative, went so far as to blame the entire lockout on Falk.