Nba Notifies Heat That Howard Pact Tops Salary Cap

The NBA on Wednesday rejected the $98 million, seven-year deal Juwan Howard signed with the Miami Heat, contending the contract exceeds the team’s salary cap.

The league said the Heat “incorrectly calculated their available salary cap room” by excluding performance bonuses for Tim Hardaway and P.J. Brown.

Jeffrey Mishkin, the NBA’s chief legal officer, said the Heat also reached an agreement with Alonzo Mourning before signing Howard, further reducing the amount available. Mourning’s contract is for $112 million over seven years.

Now that the league has rejected Howard’s contract, the matter is to be settled by arbitrators selected by the league and the players’ union.

The Heat said in a statement late Wednesday they had kept in constant contact with the league’s legal staff regarding the new cap rules and consistently sought its advice.

“We believe that in taking this position the NBA has misunderstood or misconstrued the nature of the Heat’s free agent contracts,” the team said.

The New Jersey Nets took a chance by signing Robert Pack to a five-year deal worth $15 million, believing a bruised nerve in his leg has healed and trusting that his uninhibited style will make the absence of Chris Childs less obvious.

The Nets lost Childs and P.J. Brown to free agency and renounced the rights to Armon Gilliam weeks ago.

Doron Sheffer, drafted last month by the Los Angeles Clippers after starring for three years at Connecticut, has signed with a top Israeli team.

The 24-year-old guard said he decided to return home after realizing his chances of making the Clippers were “close to zero.”

Rookie center Travis Knight signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, less than three weeks after his rights were renounced by the Chicago Bulls.

Knight, who played at Connecticut, was drafted in the first round, 29th overall, by Chicago in the June draft.

In Chesapeake, Va., Joe Smith, the Golden State Warriors’ top draft pick last season, was arraigned on a charge that he hit and cut an male dancer with a bottle.

Smith did not enter a plea and did not comment. Smith could face five to 20 years in prison if convicted on the felony charge of malicious wounding.