Nate Huffman took the Toronto Raptors to court and now has won a good chunk of money from them.

"An independent arbitrator has ruled the team owes the 7-foot centre more than $2.5 million (all figures U.S.) after the Raptors tried to terminate Huffman's three-year guaranteed contract after only six months."

"Unbelievable news," Bill Duffy, Huffman's California-based agent, said yesterday. "We were never really concerned about it, though. He never tried to deceive the team in any way."

At issue is whether or not Huffman mislead the team about the severity of his knee injury when he signed a three-year, $4.5 million deal.

Huffman played in only seven games for the team before the team terminated his contract.

The Raptors plan to appeal according to Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald.

"Right now, the decision is that we owe him the money," Grunwald said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We're exploring our options to appeal. We're talking to our lawyers now."