The NBA players' union has filed a grievance with the league, saying the NBA was wrong to fine 13 players $10,000 for wearing their shorts too long, ESPN reported Wednesday.

"We think they're being too puritanical about the whole issue," union director Billy Hunter said, ESPN reported. "The fines and their whole attitude appear insidious and draconian."

By NBA rule, a player's shorts can't go below 0.1 inches above the knee. According to ESPN, the league has fined the 76ers' Allen Iverson, Kyle Korver, Kevin Ollie and John Salmons; the Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley; the Knicks' Stephon Marbury and Nate Robinson; the Nets' Jeff McInnis; and the Nuggets' DerMarr Johnson, Voshon Lenard and Andre Miller.

The NBA also fined each team $50,000 for each violation, ESPN reported.

NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said the league had received the union's grievance, ESPN reported.

"There are rules, just as there are rules with other parts of our game," Granik said, ESPN reported. "It just seems like this year, there has been laxity on the part of some of the teams."

The union is arguing that the players are simply wearing uniforms issued by the teams and didn't give any warning that it would be policing uniforms more strictly, ESPN reported.

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"They need to back off," Hunter said, ESPN reported. "To penalize a guy $10,000 when the uniforms are manufactured by someone else. Maybe we should bring a suit against the manufacturers and seek some kind of relief from them."

O'Neal said he thinks the league is going too far in trying to eliminate hip-hop from the NBA, ESPN reported.

"I understand the need to appeal to a fan base who buys tickets, but sometimes I think it's like throwing the baby out with the bath water," Hunter said, ESPN reported. "Too much scrutiny is going on, and what's it's doing is interfering with the play."

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