This June 30, at 6:00 p.m. in the United States, and therefore midnight in France, the “free agency” opens its doors, and like every year, we are going to experience two to three completely crazy days, with signatures in all directions, and no doubt exchanges.
As every year, at the time of the transfer market, many stars find themselves without a contract, and this year, there are for example Kyrie Irving, Fred VanVleet, but also Khris Middleton As every year finally, exchanges will animate the off-season , and all eyes are on James Harden, who has asked to leave the Sixers.
To find your way around terms and salaries, DNA of Sports gives you its little guide to the NBA transfer window, but also a page with all the movements of the 2023 off-season. An off-season like no other since a new collective agreement enters into force, and it further penalizes overspending teams.
DO YOU SPEAK FREE AGENCY?
– free agency : period between June 30, 2023 and February 2024. It allows NBA franchises to recruit players free of any contract, but also to carry out exchanges. From Friday, we can expect a multitude of signings of players at the end of their contract, and generally, the biggest free agents are signed very quickly, often from the first minutes of the opening of the transfer market.
– salary cap : this is the payroll defined by the NBA. For the coming season, it will be $135 million, but NBA franchises have the option of exceeding it when extending their own players or through “exceptions”.
– luxury tax : in the NBA, the salary cap is not strict, and the NBA authorizes the richest franchises to exceed the threshold set with a tolerance margin of approximately 20%. In this case, this year, franchises can spend up to $165 million. Then, for every dollar spent above this cap, franchises must pay the “luxury tax” to the NBA. From this year, this tax is much more punitive, and if teams exceed the “luxury tax” too much, the NBA has set up thresholds with sanctions such as the impossibility of carrying out “sign-and-trade “, to place themselves on players who have negotiated a “buy-out” or to transfer Draft choices.
– cap hold : it is the “trace” occupied by a player in the payroll. Even if a player is no longer under contract with a team on July 31, he can virtually count in the wage bill when the market opens. This trace was designed to prevent a franchise from releasing all its players in order to sign other teams’ free agents before then re-signing their own thanks to their “Bird Rights”, even if it means overstepping the mark.
– Larry BirdException : rule that allows any franchise to exceed the salary cap when extending one of its players. The Raptors or the Mavericks can therefore explode their payroll by extending Fred VanVleet or Kyrie Irving.
– Mid-level exception : envelope of 12.4 million dollars available to recruit all NBA franchises that do not pay luxury tax. They can use it on one or more players. A team that has to pay the luxury tax only has 7.7 million.
– Minimum Salary Exception : Each year, each franchise has the opportunity to sign as many players as they want for minimum wage. The older a player is, the higher the salary he will receive. Some veterans, in need of a title, choose this option.
– Moratorium : moratorium set by the NBA between the start of free agency and the official date of signings. Since 2016, and following DeAndre Jordan’s about-face with Dallas, the NBA and the players’ union have reduced this duration to 6 days, and not 11 as before. Each signature announced on Friday or Saturday will only be official in a week.
– Offer sheet : a free agent protected by his franchise has the option of accepting an outside proposal. This is called an “offer sheet”. His franchise then has 48 hours to align, and thus keep it. This season, a player like Grant Williams will be able to sign an “offer sheet”, and Boston will be able to line up on it if the team wishes to keep him.
– opt-in : it is the fact of activating a clause to extend a contract. Like for example Jordan Clarkson who chose not to test the market.
– opt-out : it is the fact of activating a clause to free oneself from a contract. This is what Bruce Brown did on the Denver side.
– Qualifying offer : proposal made by a franchise to one of its players during his last year of rookie contract. Based on his former salary, this offer allows him to become a “protected free agent” and to match any offer made to the player by another franchise. If the player then signs this qualifying offer, he is automatically free next season, and his team will no longer be able to match an offer to keep him.
– Restricted : in French, we translate it as “protected” at DNA of Sports. An adjective used to mean that a free player still depends on his team since it can match any offer (see “offer sheet”) that will be made to him. This season, Grant Williams, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura are “restricted” free agents (RFA).
– Team Option : it is the equivalent of the clauses “opt-in” and “opt-out” but for the teams. Thanks to this type of clause, a franchise can part with a player and make him a free agent. Conversely, they can also activate this clause to prevent a player from being a free agent. This year, the Lakers made use of their “team option” to separate from Mo Bamba and Malik Beasley.
– Unrestricted : this is the opposite of “restricted”, and it is translated as “unprotected”. This means that the player is free to sign where he wants, without his franchise being able to match an external offer. This is the case this year with Kyrie Irving or Russell Westbrook, for example.
– Sign-and-trade : operation which consists in signing one of its free agents and then transferring it. Some franchises use this system to avoid seeing one of their players leave without any compensation. This may be the case for Kyrie Irving if he no longer wishes to play for the Mavericks.
– Trade : it’s an exchange, classic. Like the one between the Wizards and the Suns a few weeks ago for the arrival of Bradley Beal in Phoenix.
WHAT ARE THE MAXIMUM SALARIES?
Contract extension (up to five years of contract, with an increase of 8% per year)
– Less than seven years of experience: 34 million dollars the first year (max: 197 million over five years)
– From 7 to 9 years of experience: 40.8 million dollars the first year (max: 236 million over five years)
– Ten years and over: 47.6 million dollars the first year (max: 276 million over five years)
Signing in a new team (up to four years of contract, with an increase of 5% per year)
– Less than seven years of experience: 34 million dollars the first year (max: 146 million over four years)
– From 7 to 9 years of experience: 40.8 million dollars the first year (max: 175 million over four years)
– Ten years and over: 46.7 million dollars the first year (max: 204 million over four years)
