By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports Jan 9, 12:00 am EST
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* NBA tells teams Miles free to be signed Jan 9, 2009
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Yahoo! Sports
The NBA Players Association has accused the Portland Trail Blazers of collusion after the franchise threatened possible litigation for any team that tries to sign free-agent forward Darius Miles.
“We are shocked at the brazen attempt by the Portland Trail Blazers to try to prevent Darius Miles from continuing his NBA career,” the union’s executive director, Billy Hunter, said in a statement released early Friday evening. “Their attempt to intimidate the other 29 NBA teams by threatening frivolous litigation merely for signing this capable NBA veteran is a clear violation of the anti-collusion and other provisions of our Collective Bargaining Agreement. We will vigorously defend Darius’ rights.”
The Blazers sent an email to rival team executives late Thursday threatening legal action to any franchise that signs Miles for the “purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers’ salary cap and tax positions.”
The email cites Wednesday’s Yahoo! Sports report that if Miles plays in two more games this season, the remaining $18 million on his contract goes back on the Blazers’ payroll.
“The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions,” Blazers president Larry Miller wrote in the email to representatives of every NBA team. “Such conduct by a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers contract rights and perspective economic opportunities.
“Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation.”
An NBA spokesman said the league had no comment on the threat. But the league did notify teams on Friday morning that Miles has cleared waivers and is eligible to be signed to a standard contract.
“Any such contract,” the league wrote in the memo, “would be approved by the NBA.”
Teams had been under the impression the collective bargaining agreement demanded that Miles play 10 regular-season or postseason games for the $18 million – which is split evenly between this and next season – to return to the Blazers’ payroll. But the league office confirmed to Yahoo! Sports that the six preseason games that Miles played for the Boston Celtics counts toward the 10. Before the Memphis Grizzlies waived him on Tuesday night to avoid guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season, Miles played two regular-season games that pushed him to eight total.
“They’re daring someone to sign him now,” said one Western Conference GM who had seen the email from the Blazers.
Any team in the NBA can sign Miles to a 10-day contract, play him twice and punch out one of the summer’s top free-agent destinations. The Blazers are a prime destination for free agents, and the cap space also made them a fierce competitor for sign-and-trade deals. If Miles returns to the salary cap, he also will push Portland into the luxury tax. That means every team under the tax would benefit with about $250,000 of revenue sharing from Portland.
“The point that everybody is missing is that this isn’t about Portland’s salary cap. It’s about whether this guy [Miles] is healthy enough to play or not,” said an Eastern Conference executive. “He obviously is healthy enough to play. It doesn’t matter how good he plays. He can still play, and they said he couldn’t.
“Portland received benefits when [Miles’] injury was ruled career-ending. If he can play, they don’t deserve to have those benefits.”
