The Portland Trailblazers have threatened litigation if Darius Miles is signed by any team with the intention of “adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions”.  Darius Miles has already logged eight games since being dropped by the Portland Trailblazers.  Two more games and Darius Miles’ salary goes back to the Blazers payroll.

Of course, this will have obvious implications in Portland’s 2009 and 2010 (where Lebron is available) salary cap.

After initially reading about this fiasco, I was “upset” with the Portland Trailblazers (specifically the e-mail sender, Larry Miller).  How could they send a threatening e-mail like this?  Then, after reading Henry Abott’s piece telling “One key point is that the letter does not threaten to sue any team that signs Miles. Instead, it’s a threat to sue any team that signs Miles for the purposes of hurting Portland.“, I came to my senses.

I think what the Blazers are saying is that they will only sue if any team signs Miles in bad faith.

I was about to write that, on hindsight, it was a clever e-mail by Larry Miller.  It was an empty threat but it will make teams think twice of making a foul move.  I’m sure most teams don’t need complications like this, not with the American financial crisis going on. The e-mail was, sort of, a pre-emptive strike.  However, the Memphis Grizzlies just re-signed Darius Miles, ignoring the Blazers threat.

Firstly, of all teams, the Memphis Grizzlies has the “cleanest” right of signing Darius Miles because he just played for Memphis. Darius was waived to permit Memphis not to guarantee a contract.  Lastly, a commendable move by the Grizzlies as Darius Miles, apparently, still has game.  If anything, the threat just helped Memphis as it just discouraged other teams who were probably looking to sign Darius Miles.

Of course, the NBA does not approve of Portland’s threats, the Cleveland Cavaliers owner is also upset about the threat and the NBA Players’ Association is filing a grievance suit.