Miles is two games away from a 10-game trigger that makes the Blazers responsible for his salary, thus making it near impossible for them to acquire a free agent. So, Miller sent out an email to the other owners threatening legal action if anyone re-signed Miles after the Grizzlies cut him earlier this week (he’d been with Boston earlier for six pre-season games, and played in two games for the Grizzlies.)
Well, the Grizzlies just told the Blazers to eff right off, picking him right back up and re-signing Miles to a ten-day contract — and don’t be surprised if he gets garbage time in two games to get the Blazers to pay up the $12 million left on his contract.
Everyone in the NBA is rightfully in a shvitz over this because this isn’t the NFL at this point; to an extent, the NBA still has some balance as a player’s league and a better union. David Stern hasn’t gone down that kind of draconian path yet (and to an extent, he can’t, with player contracts being guaranteed), and so far, quite a few owners and GMs are calling out Portland on this crap, which is really asking for collusion by any other name.