The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement still isn’t official, but Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has some new information on more details and rules expected to be included in the CBA once it’s officially ratified. Let’s dive right in and round up the highlights of Pincus’ piece, which also confirms several previously reported CBA details…
Trade rules:
- The amount of money teams can send or receive in trades in a given league year will jump from $3.5MM to $5.1MM in 2017/18. It will increase along with the salary cap after that.
- Teams below the tax will be allowed to take back up to 175% of the total salary they send out in a trade. Previously, that figure was 150%, so the new CBA should give clubs more flexibility to complete trades.
- Players and teams can agree to reduce or eliminate a player’s trade bonus to accommodate a deal, which should also create more flexibility in trades.
Restricted free agency:
- Teams are still permitted to withdraw a qualifying offer for a restricted free agent, but the deadline has been moved up from July 23 to July 13.
- A team whose restricted free agent signs an Arenas Rule offer sheet with a rival suitor will have the option of taking on the cap hit for the average salary -or actual salary – throughout the deal. For instance, when the Heat committed to matching Tyler Johnson‘s offer sheet from the Nets, they had to accommodate a huge cap hit increase from $5.88MM in 2017/18 to $19MM+ in 2018/19. Brooklyn would have been able to average out those cap hits for a $12.5MM annual hit, and under the new CBA, Miami would have that option as well.
- Restricted free agents will be able to sign offer sheets during the July moratorium, but the two-day waiting period to match those offers won’t begin until the moratorium ends (July 6 at noon ET each year).
- Teams will no longer be allowed to publicly state that they’ll match any offer sheets on an RFA.
Rookie salaries:
- Rookie scale salaries will increase at a more significant rate under the new CBA. Pincus provides an example for the first overall pick in the 2017 draft, who will likely have yearly salaries of $5.9MM, $6.9MM, $8.1MM, and $10.2MM ($31.2MM overall).
- Unsigned first-round draft picks will have a cap hold worth 120% of their rookie scale amount. Teams typically sign rookies for the maximum allowable 120% anyway, but increasing the cap hold from 100% to 120% will remove the incentive for clubs to wait to sign their draft picks.