While comforting one another is a major goal, the basketball moms are more than a social group. Life in the N.B.A. is as much business as it is basketball, and the mothers feel compelled to tackle the off-the-court issues that can cause their sons problems. At last year's convention, they had Horace Balmer, the league's vice president of security, address them about the women and men who prey on the players in a social scene that can sometimes be out of control. Balmer told them about a woman who, after having sex with players, would save the condom, freeze the sperm and give it to her friends so they could try to get pregnant.

And this weekend, Yolanda Brooks, a sports psychologist, and Lonise Bias, a motivational speaker and the mother of the Maryland star Len Bias, who died of a drug overdose after being drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1986, spoke about how the mothers can help their sons navigate N.B.A. life.

In the eyes of the mothers, one of those dangers is the news media. The rash of negative publicity that N.B.A. players have received within the past year -- including a report last year in The New York Times that up to 70 percent of the players smoke marijuana and drink excessively, and a Sports Illustrated article last spring about players who have fathered numerous children out of wedlock -- had the moms on the defensive. Some even said they stopped watching Oprah Winfrey's television show after she followed the Sports Illustrated article with an episode on professional athletes, many of whom were in the N.B.A., being negligent fathers.

Brandon, whose son Terrell has a 7-year-old son who was born out of wedlock, said of the Sports Illustrated article: ''I didn't like it, and none of the mothers liked it, because what they didn't report was that while some of the men may have children out of wedlock, some of these men are real fathers and not just with their money. A lot of these men really love their children and are taking care of them. I say if you're going to tell the story, tell the whole story. But they're just looking for the dirt. All they want is dirt.''

Marie Jackson, the mother of Indiana point guard Mark Jackson, added: ''This is a new day and a new era, and there are millions of children born out of wedlock in society today, so why focus on these players who are just living in what society dictates today? I don't condone the behavior, but I do condone their right to privacy.''

Despite their unhappiness with the coverage, the women were not blind to the actions of many of the players. Indeed, Brooks, the sports psychologist, drew cheers when she implored the mothers in a Saturday morning seminar to ''teach your sons and daughters the importance of parental responsibility, and that any male can make a child but it takes a man to raise one.''

Becky Gatling said: ''We know that these guys out here are not angels. I tell Chris point blank, 'You know, you need to zip it up and keep it in your pants unless you've got all of this money you want to give away.' I tell him to use a condom or don't do it at all. I don't want any more grandchildren until I'm ready.''