Darius Miles was declared by an independent doctor to be unfit to play NBA basketball. That ruling allowed the Blazers to take his salary off of their salary cap. If he plays in a total of 10 games during the life of his contract, the next two seasons, his salary goes back on their salary cap. I'm pretty sure that only applies to playing for a NBA team though. He's been trying out for several NBA teams, so he seems intent on trying to play basketball again, even if it causes him to need new knees sooner rather than later. If it is true that contracts with European teams don't effect the Blazers with this loophole in the salary cap, he could sign with a European team and get to play, the Blazers get all of their cap space in 2009 and some doctor gets paid to fix Darius' knees, everybody wins. Does that make perfect sense to anybody else?
I agree, I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in Europe either. I don't think any team here is going to want to take a chance on him at this point.
I kinda want to see Miles play. I know it screws up there cap space, but I want to know for sure if Miles is completely useless now.
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jun/20/sports/sp-hill20 Hill Might Sit Out Season June 20, 2003 The Orlando Magic has contacted the NBA seeking the medical salary-cap exception for Grant Hill, meaning the injured former All-Star might not play next season. Hill has been hobbled by a bad left ankle since he broke it during the 2000 playoffs while he was with the Detroit Pistons. He has had numerous operations on the ankle and has played in only 47 games for Orlando since signing a $93-million, seven-year contract in August 2000. Magic General Manager John Gabriel said Thursday the team had contacted the league seeking the salary-cap exception, but he wouldn’t comment further. Gabriel told the Orlando Sentinel that it was “likely” Hill will miss the season. Hill’s agent, Lon Babby, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. The Magic has until Oct. 1 to apply for the medical exception, worth $4.8 million, but it wants to have the money available for this summer’s free-agent recruiting period, which begins July 1. The Magic did not apply for the medical exception previously because it believed Hill might make a successful comeback each season. The maximum salary for the replacement player is 50% of the injured player’s salary, or 108% of the league average salary for the previous season, whichever is less.
http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#53 53. How do retired players count against the cap? Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player has retired. For example, James Worthy retired in 1994, two years before his contract ended. He continued to receive his salary for the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, so his salary was included in the Lakers' team salary in those seasons. It is at the team's discretion (or as the result of an agreement between the team and player) whether to continue to pay the player after he has retired. There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is not included in the team's team salary. This is when a player is forced to retire for medical reasons and a league-appointed physician confirms that he is medically unfit to continue playing. There is a waiting period of one year following the injury or illness before a team can apply for this salary cap relief. If the waiting period expires mid-season (on any date prior to the last day of the regular season), then the player's entire salary for that season is removed from the team's team salary. For example, in March 2003 the Knicks were allowed to remove Luc Longley's entire 2002-03 salary from their books (and since the luxury tax is based on the team salary as of the last day of the regular season, the Knicks avoided paying any tax on Longley's salary). This provision can also be used when a player dies while under contract. Teams are not allowed to trade for disabled players and then apply for this salary cap relief. Only the team for which the player was playing when he was disabled may request this relief. If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.
FWIW, I remember the league physician refused to declare Grant Hill unfit to play, so the league denied the Magic's request for the retired player exception (Hill did want to retire). This is from memory, 2005-06 season.
