"Carlos and his agent (Rob Pelinka, who resigned Monday as Boozer's representative) first approached us in December of 2003, stating his desire for financial security as well as his desire to remain in Cleveland and be a key part of the future of this franchise," Gund wrote. "He and his agent made it very clear that if we respected them, and provided the security he was looking to gain, he would respect us. Given his record on the court, with the franchise, and in the community, we had every reason to believe his commitment.

"Over the course of several months, we had multiple meetings that involved Carlos, his wife and his agent. In our most recent meeting on June 30, (Cavs general manager) Jim Paxson and I told Carlos we had two options. He could play this year on his existing contract and test the market for free agency next year, or we could elect not to exercise the option if we had the understanding with him that as soon as legally possible he would negotiate a contract with us for the maximum we could pay him under league rules."

The Cavs claim they not did violate terms of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NBA and its players' association in their pre-July 1 contact with Boozer, although their own admissions seemingly make it sound as if they may have done just that.

Even implied agreements are expressly prohibited by the CBA.

"I said I define trust as his intention to stay in Cleveland and enter into a long-term contract with us as soon as possible under the league rules," Gund wrote. "In that meeting, we were clear with him that he could make more money in the open market a year from now than we could pay him by redoing his contract this year. I told him he needed to understand that and we did not want him to later think we had taken advantage of him.

"Jim (Paxson) told him, 'There are at least seven teams that have cap space right now who will want to pay you more than we can now. We don't want to lose you. Why would we not pick up the option?' Carlos said 'Because we'd like long-term security and we want to stay in Cleveland.' Carlos went on to say that he was happy to be a Cavalier and never indicated any concern with his role on the team or his relationship with Coach Silas.

"Carlos, his wife and his agent, all of whom were in that room, knew what our maximum ability would be to pay him. Both Carlos and his wife responded that they wanted financial security now and therefore were anxious to pursue the second option of entering into a long-term contract with us as soon as possible and that they would live with any consequences from this decision.