Was it a threat, or a dare to the other teams? The Portland Trail Blazers, through an email from team president Larry Miller, issued a statement to the other 29 teams in the NBA: sign Darius Miles to a contract over 2 days in length, with the intent of sending the Blazers over the salary cap, and the Blazers would take action.

"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," Miller wrote, according to the email.

The threat raised the ire of the NBAPA, who promised to file a grievance against the Blazers on the matter.

The reason? If Miles plays two more games, the Blazers are on the hook for his contract, $18 million over this season and next, thus putting the franchise over the salary cap.

Scrambling to clarify himself, Larry Miller addressed the email sent.

"Our purpose here was not in any way to keep Darius from being able to play," Miller said. "If he can come back and help a team to win and play at a level on the court that helps the team, we have no problem with that at all.

"We were hearing a lot of rumblings and rumors that there were teams out there planning to sign Darius Miles specifically and maliciously to hurt our organization. This was our way of responding to that and letting folks know that we were not going to take it sitting down."

In just under 24 hours, a team has taken up the Blazers’ challenge.

The Memphis Grizzlies have signed Miles to a 10-day contract, thus placing the Blazers over the cap. In a case of the ironic, the Grizzlies had waived Miles on Tuesday to avoid picking up the rest of his contract. He will be back in uniform on Saturday. As of Saturday morning there has been no word on whether the Blazers plan any legal action, or whether the union for the players was following through on the grievance.

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