Four years after suing the National Basketball Players Association over his termination, Billy Hunter, the organization’s former executive director, will get to challenge the union in court. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Huey P. Cotton, in an action on Wednesday, set a trial date for March 5, 2018.

At least $10.5 million — Hunter’s remaining salary on his contract when he was fired — is in dispute.

“We are pleased that the court set a trial date and we look forward to vindicating Mr. Hunter’s rights at trial,’’ said Joshua Hill, one of Hunter’s lawyers, after Cotton acted. The players union declined to comment.

Hunter was the union’s executive director from 1996 until his ouster in February 2013. After acrimonious negotiations marked by union infighting during the N.B.A. lockout in 2011, Derek Fisher, the union’s president at the time, persuaded its executive committee to authorize an independent audit of Hunter’s business practices.