As a follow up to the story about the Blazers threatening to sue any team that signs Darius Miles...

When the NBA sent out the official announcement that Miles had cleared waivers, they added a few words to the standard boilerplate announcement. It read:

The NBA has received the email sent last night by Portland to all teams. Under league rules, teams are free to sign Darius Miles to a Uniform Player Contract if they wish to secure his services as a player, and any such contract would be approved by the NBA.

That last bit, in bold text, isn't normally part of these announcements.

(Hat tip: Henry Abbott at True Hoop.)

Doesn't take a law degree -- which is good, because I don't have one -- to interpret this message. Sounds like the league thinks Larry Miller over-stepped his bounds a bit.

The funny thing is, aside from the potential luxury tax hit, the extra $9 million on the cap probably won't hurt the Blazers at all. There's no team in the league that has as many marketable young players -- many of whom can't even crack the regular rotation. With or without Miles' contract on the books, Portland is in a great position to trade for just about any player they want -- either at the deadline this February or over the summer.