NBA watching Cavs

While fans from Cleveland to Salt Lake City ponder the great mistake that just might land the Jazz much-coveted power forward Carlos Boozer, and while those same fans debate the morals of Boozer and the Cavaliers, the NBA is withholding judgment for now on actions that led to the 22-year-old becoming a restricted free agent.

"We just don't know yet all the facts of what happened or supposedly happened," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Saturday. "It's premature for us to comment."

The Jazz have nothing to fear, since no one feels they did anything wrong in getting Boozer to agree to soon sign their six-year, $68 million offer sheet.

If the league chose to investigate and determined Boozer's camp and Cleveland had engaged in impermissible activity, however, there could be sanctions.

Article XIII, Section 2, subsection a-ii of the collective bargaining agreement (cba) between the NBA and the NBA Players Association states:

"At no time shall there be any undisclosed agreements (i.e., undisclosed to the NBA) of any kind, express or implied, oral or written, or promises, undertakings, representations, commitments, inducements, assurances of intent, or understandings of any kind, between a player (or any person or entity acting with authority or apparent authority on behalf of such player) and any team … concerning any future renegotiation, extension, or amendment of an existing player contract, or entry into a new player contract."

A violation, according to the cba and as determined by an arbitrator, "may be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence … "

In other words: No deal-making before the league's official two-week negotiating period opens July 1 is permitted.

Penalties, spelled out in cba, could include a fine of up to $3.5 million, forfeiture of draft picks and suspension of involved team personnel for up to one year.

Moreover, the league can ask the Players Association to suspend any agent involved.

It's happened before, when the NBA voided a contract between Joe Smith and Minnesota and stringently punished the Timberwolves, and the union chastised Smith's agent.

In that case, though, there was a smoking gun: paperwork, actually signed before the date allowed. One other difference: Smith, unlike Boozer at this point, actually signed with the team he negotiated with when it was not allowed.

Is there a case, then, against Boozer's camp and the Cavs?

You decide:

Sometime before July

Boozer, a 2002 second-round draft choice from Duke, was scheduled to make $695,000 next season on the option year of a three-year contract.