Hoops Rumors Glossary

The Bird exception, named after Larry Bird, is a rule included in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement that allows teams to go over the salary cap to re-sign their own players. A player who qualifies for the Bird exception, formally referred to as a Qualifying Veteran Free Agent, is said to have “Bird rights.”

The most basic way for a player to earn Bird rights is to play for the same team for at least three seasons, either on a long-term deal or on separate one- or two-year contracts. Still, there are other criteria. A player retains his Bird rights in the following scenarios:

1. He changes teams via trade. For instance, the Pistons will hold Marvin Bagley III‘s Bird rights when he reaches free agency this offseason, despite just acquiring him in February. His Bird clock didn’t reset when he was traded from Sacramento to Detroit.
2. He finishes a third season with a team after having only signed for a partial season with the club in the first year. The Warriors signed Juan Toscano-Anderson midway through the 2019/20 season, adding him to their roster in February 2020. When his contract expires this offseason, Toscano-Anderson will have Bird rights despite not spending three full seasons with Golden State, because that half-season in ’19/20 started his Bird clock.
3. He signed for a full season in year one or two but the team waived him, he cleared waivers, and didn’t sign with another team before re-signing with the club and remaining under contract through a third season. This one’s a little confusing, but let’s use Toscano-Anderson as a case study once more. After he finished the 2019/20 season with the Warriors, Toscano-Anderson was waived by the team in December 2020. Because the Warriors re-signed him shortly after cutting him and he didn’t join a new team in the interim, the swingman’s Bird clock picked up where it left off once he was back under contract, so he’ll have full Bird rights this summer.

A player sees the clock on his Bird rights reset to zero in the following scenarios:

1. He changes teams via free agency.
2. He is waived and is not claimed on waivers (except as in scenario No. 3 above).
3. His rights are renounced by his team. However, as in scenario No. 3 above, a player’s Bird clock picks up where it left off if he re-signs with that team renounced without having signed with another NBA team. For example, Taj Gibson had Early Bird rights last offseason, then had those rights renounced by the Knicks as the team attempted to gain extra cap room. Since Gibson eventually signed a new deal with New York, he remains on track to secure full Bird rights this summer — that wouldn’t have been the case if he had signed with a new team.
4. He is selected in an expansion draft.

If a player who would have been in line for Bird rights at the end of the season is waived and claimed off waivers, he would retain only Early Bird rights.

Meanwhile, a player with Bird rights who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract (or a one-year deal with a second-year option) would lose his Bird rights if he’s traded. As such, he receives the ability to veto trades so he can avoid that scenario.

[RELATED: Players who had the ability to veto trades in 2021/22]

The Bird exception was designed to allow teams to keep their best players, even when those teams don’t have the cap room necessary to do so.

When a player earns Bird rights, he’s eligible to re-sign with his team for up to five years and for any price up to his maximum salary (with 8% annual raises) when he becomes a free agent, no matter how much cap space the team has — or doesn’t have. The maximum salary varies from player to player depending on how long he has been in the league, but regardless of the precise amount, a team can exceed the salary cap to re-sign a player with Bird rights.

A team with a Bird free agent is assigned a “free agent amount” – also called a cap hold – worth either 190% of his previous salary (for a player with a below-average salary) or 150% of his previous salary (for an above-average salary), up to the maximum salary amount. For players coming off rookie scale contracts, the amounts of those cap holds are 300% and 250%, respectively.

The Hornets, for instance, will have a cap hold worth $16,264,479 for Miles Bridges on their 2022/23 books — 300% of his $5,421,493 salary for ’21/22. Charlotte could renounce Bridges and generate an extra $16MM+ in cap flexibility, but the Hornets would then lose the ability to re-sign him using Bird rights, which would force them to use either cap room or a different cap exception to re-sign him. As such, we can count on Charlotte keeping Bridges’ cap hold on the books until his free agency is resolved.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.

The concept of proration is one used in variety of fields and professions, and isn’t specific to the NBA. The term, which shows up frequently in the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, refers to the practice of calculating a figure proportionately.

In the NBA, the most common examples of proration apply to players on non-guaranteed contracts who are waived before their salaries become guaranteed, or players who sign minimum-salary contracts partway through the season. In each instance, the player would receive a prorated portion of his salary based on the number of days he was under contract during the season.

For example, when DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Nuggets on February 25, he received a minimum-salary contract. For the 2021/22 season, the minimum salary for a player with Cousins’ years of NBA service (10+) is $2,641,691, though such a deal would only count against his team’s cap for $1,669,178, as we explain here. However, since Cousins wasn’t with the Nuggets since the start of the season, he wasn’t entitled to that full minimum salary from the team.

The ’21/22 NBA season is 174 days long and Cousins signed his contract on the 130th day of the season, meaning his “one-year” contract will span 45 days. Due to proration, his minimum salary will be worth 45/174th of a full minimum salary. So instead of earning $2,641,691, he’ll make $683,196. And instead of counting for $1,669,178 on the Nuggets’ books, Cousins’ cap charge is 45/174th of that amount: $431,684.

If the Nuggets had signed Cousins using cap space or a cap exception, his salary wouldn’t necessarily have been prorated, but the minimum salary exception begins to prorate after the first day of the regular season.

The same principle of proration applied to an earlier deal that Cousins signed this season, with the Bucks. Cousins finalized a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract with Milwaukee on November 30, the 43rd day of the regular season. That deal was initially worth $2,004,041 (132/174ths of $2,641,691), but Cousins was waived on January 6 before it became fully guaranteed.

Cousins was officially under contract with the Bucks for 38 days, and the NBA also pays players for the two days they spend on waivers, so the veteran center was credited with 40 days of service. That means, due to proration, he was entitled to 40/174th of a minimum salary — that amount worked out to $607,285.

Situations like Cousins’ in Denver and Milwaukee are the most frequent examples of proration’s impact on NBA finances, but there are many more instances where it pops up.

Here’s a quick breakdown of several of those other instances of proration:

• Mid-level and bi-annual exceptions: These exceptions begin to prorate on January 10, declining in value by 1/174th each day until the end of the regular season.
• Trade kickers: If a player with a trade kicker in his contract is traded during the season, the kicker only applies to his remaining salary. Let’s say a player has a 15% trade kicker and an $8MM salary in his contract year and is dealt halfway through the season. His 15% trade kicker would only apply to the $4MM left on his deal, giving him a $600K bonus.
• 10-day contracts: A 10-day salary is prorated based on a full-season salary. Most players on 10-day contracts earn 10/174th of their minimum salary.
• Signing bonuses: If a teams gives a player a signing bonus in a free agent contract, that bonus is prorated equally over the guaranteed seasons of the contract for cap purposes. For example, a $4MM signing bonus on a four-year contract would add $1MM to the player’s cap charge for each of the four seasons.
• Salary floor calculations: When calculating a team’s payroll in relation to the league’s minimum salary floor, we count the salary that a team actually pays to a player, rather than the player’s cap hit. For instance, if a team traded for a player on a $12MM contract halfway through the season and kept him the rest of the way, he would count for $6MM toward that team’s salary floor, rather than $12MM.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

A previous version of this glossary entry was published in 2018.

Although some NBA teams can become hard-capped during a given league year if they use specific exceptions or make certain transactions, the league doesn’t have a set hard cap for all teams. In addition to its soft cap though, the league does have a luxury tax threshold, which serves to discourage excessive spending. When a team’s total salary ends up over that line at season’s end, the NBA charges a tax for every extra dollar the club spends.

The formula to determine the luxury tax line is a complicated one, related to the NBA’s projected basketball related income (BRI) and projected benefits. Generally though, it comes in around 20-22% above the salary cap line. For instance, in 2021/22, the league’s salary cap is set at $112,414,000, while the luxury tax threshold is at $136,606,000. So any team whose total ’21/22 salary exceeds $136,606,000 on the last day of the regular season is subject to a tax bill.

The NBA’s luxury tax system is set up so that the penalties become more punitive if teams go further beyond the tax line. Here’s what those penalties look like:

• $0-5MM above tax line: $1.50 per dollar (up to $7.5MM).
• $5-10MM above tax line: $1.75 per dollar (up to $8.75MM).
• $10-15MM above tax line: $2.50 per dollar (up to $12.5MM).
• $15-20MM above tax line: $3.25 per dollar (up to $16.25MM).
• For every additional $5MM above tax line beyond $20MM, rates increase by $0.50 per dollar.
  • Note: This would mean $3.75 per dollar for amounts between $20-25MM, $4.25 for $25-30MM, etc.

For example, if a team is over the tax by $12MM, its tax bill would be $21.25MM: $7.5MM for the first $5MM over the tax, $8.75MM for the $5-10MM bracket, then $5MM for the final increment in the $10-15MM bracket.

While these are the rates that apply to most taxpayers – including the Clippers, Nets, Bucks, Lakers, Jazz, and Sixers this season – a team can become subject to a more punitive “repeater” penalty if it paid the tax in three of the previous four seasons.

This scenario currently applies to Golden State — the Warriors were a taxpaying club in 2018, 2019, and 2021, which means they’ll be a repeat offender this season. The Thunder, who were taxpayers in 2018, 2019, and 2020, would also be subject to the repeater tax this season, but they’re far, far below the tax line.

Here are the penalties that apply to repeat taxpayers:

• $0-5MM above tax line: $2.50 per dollar (up to $12.5MM).
• $5-10MM above tax line: $2.75 per dollar (up to $13.75MM).
• $10-15MM above tax line: $3.50 per dollar (up to $17.5MM).
• $15-20MM above tax line: $4.25 per dollar (up to $21.25MM).
• For every additional $5MM above tax line beyond $20MM, rates increase by $0.50 per dollar
  • Note: This would mean $4.75 per dollar for amounts between $20-25MM, $5.25 for $25-30MM, etc.

If the hypothetical team we described in our first example, over the tax by $12MM, was a repeat taxpayer, its bill would increase to $33.25MM.

Generally speaking, luxury tax penalties are calculated by determining a team’s total cap hits at the end of the regular season. So a team that starts the year above the tax line could get under it before the end of the season by completing trades or buyouts. The Celtics did just that this season, slipping below the luxury tax threshold at the trade deadline by completing a series of deals that reduced their overall team salary.

It’s also worth noting that team salary for tax purposes is calculated slightly differently than it is for cap purposes. Here are a few of the adjustments made at season’s end before a team’s tax bill is calculated:

• Cap holds and exceptions are ignored.
• “Likely” bonuses that weren’t earned are removed from team salary; “unlikely” bonuses that were earned are added to team salary.
• If a player with a trade bonus is acquired after the final regular season game, that trade bonus is added to team salary.
• If a player with 0-1 years of NBA experience signed a minimum-salary free agent contract, the minimum-salary cap charge for a two-year veteran is used in place of that player’s cap charge.
  • Note: This only applies to free agents, not drafted players. For example, Clippers rookie Brandon Boston Jr. (second-round pick) and Lakers rookie Austin Reaves (UDFA) are each earning $925,258 in 2021/22. Boston will count for $925,258 for tax purposes, while Reaves will count for $1,669,178.

So let’s say that five teams finish the season owing a total of $50MM in taxes. Where does that money go? Currently, the NBA splits it 50/50 — half of it is used for “league purposes,” while the other half is distributed to non-taxpaying teams in equal shares. In that scenario, the 25 non-taxpaying teams would receive $1MM apiece.

As cap expert Larry Coon explains in his CBA FAQ, “league purposes” essentially covers any purpose the NBA deems appropriate, including giving the money back to teams. In recent years, the NBA has used that money as a funding source for its revenue sharing program. Coon also notes that the CBA technically allows up to 50% of tax money to be distributed to non-taxpaying teams, but there’s no obligation for that to happen — in other words, the NBA could decide to use 100% of the tax money for “league purposes.”

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in 2012, 2018, and 2020.

The NBA’s rookie scale, which determines how much first-round picks earn during their first four NBA seasons, also dictates how much the qualifying offers will be worth for those players once they’re eligible for restricted free agency after year four. However, the value of those qualifying offers can fluctuate depending on whether or not a player has met the “starter criteria.”

Here’s how the starter criteria works:

A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency.

A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. Due to the fact that only 72 games were played in the 2020/21 season, these requirements have been slightly adjusted, but will return to normal next season.

A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria impacts the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:

• A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
  • Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $7,228,448.
  • Example: Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton (2018’s No. 8 overall pick) won’t meet the starter criteria this season. As a result, he’ll be eligible for a QO worth $7,228,448 instead of $8,559,357.
    
• A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
  • Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $7,921,300.
  • Example: Hornets forward Miles Bridges (2018’s No. 12 overall pick) has met the starter criteria this season. As a result, he’ll be eligible for a QO worth $7,921,300 instead of $7,459,974.
• A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
  • Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $4,869,012.
    
  • Example: Thunder wing Luguentz Dort (an undrafted free agent) has met the starter criteria this season. As a result, he’ll be eligible for a QO worth $4,869,012 instead of $2,228,276 if Oklahoma City declines his team option to make him a restricted free agent.
    
• For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.

Extending a qualifying offer to a player who is eligible for restricted free agency officially makes that player an RFA, ensuring that his team has the right of first refusal if he signs an offer sheet with another club. It also gives the player the option of signing that one-year QO.

Generally, the value of a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer isn’t hugely important, since very few RFAs accept those offers outright. There are exceptions though.

In 2020, for instance, Kris Dunn met the starter criteria, which ensured that his qualifying offer would have been worth $7,091,457 instead of $4,642,800. The Bulls opted not to extend that $7MM+ QO, making him an unrestricted free agent, and he ended up signing a two-year, $10MM contract with Atlanta. If Dunn hadn’t met the starter criteria, it’s possible Chicago would’ve been more comfortable issuing a $4.6MM qualifying offer, which would’ve significantly changed the way Dunn’s free agency played out.

We’ll revisit the starter criteria at season’s end to see which of 2022’s potential restricted free agents will have their qualifying offers impacted by meeting – or failing to meet – the starter criteria.

So far, of this year’s RFAs-to-be, Bridges, Dort (team option), Deandre Ayton, Mohamed Bamba, and Jae’Sean Tate (team option) have met the starter criteria. There are a few players who could still get there, led by Anfernee Simons, who has made 26 starts and logged 1,555 minutes.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Information from Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Earlier versions of this post were published in 2019 and 2020.

Once the NBA trade deadline passes, the league’s buyout season unofficially begins. What exactly are buyouts, and how do they work? Today’s Hoops Rumors glossary entry will examine those questions. Let’s dive in…

What is a buyout?

While the term “buyout” is often applied colloquially when any veteran is released after the trade deadline, it applies specifically to a player who gives up a portion of his salary to accommodate his release. Rather than waiving a player outright, a team will negotiate the terms of the player’s release. Then, once the player clears waivers, his guaranteed salary with his previous team will be reduced or eliminated altogether.

So far this season, we’ve seen Spurs guard Goran Dragic and Pacers big man Tristan Thompson agree to buyouts. Those two veterans each surrendered in the neighborhood of $800K to their respective teams in order to reach free agency.

What’s the motivation for a buyout?

The most common form of buyout involves a veteran player on a non-contending team being granted his release during the final year of his contract to join a playoff club down the stretch.

It typically happens after the trade deadline because by that point there’s no other way for a player to change teams. It’s even more frequent if the player was traded at the deadline for salary-matching purposes to a team that doesn’t view him as part of its plans.

Dragic and Thompson each fit this bill. The Spurs and Pacers probably aren’t going to make the playoffs this season and are more focused on developing their young players. Buyouts for those two veterans will give them a chance to join teams with loftier short-term aspirations.

For the player, the motivating factor is generally the desire to play for a winning team rather than a chance to earn more money. In their buyouts, Dragic and Thompson gave up roughly the amount of money they’ll make on new prorated minimum-salary contracts, so they likely won’t come out ahead financially — they’ll just get a chance to play in the postseason before returning to free agency in the summer.

As for the team, there’s little downside to letting a veteran go, since the player is usually in the final year of his contract and the club completing the buyout is rarely in contention for a playoff spot. Buying out that veteran can save the team some money, earn some goodwill with a player and an agent, and open up minutes for a younger player to take over.

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Throughout the offseason and preseason, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 (plus a pair of two-way players) in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by a team prior to the season can be designated as “affiliate players” and assigned to that team’s G League squad.

The players have a say in this decision. If they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re under no obligation to become affiliate players. But if the player’s NBA team has designated him as an affiliate player and he signs a G League contract, he is automatically assigned to that team’s NBAGL roster.

Since most NBA and international teams aren’t looking to bring in extra players by the time the NBA regular season begins, the opportunity to continue playing in the same system appeals to many of those preseason cuts — especially since many of them will be in line for bonuses worth up to $50K after having signed Exhibit 10 contracts. Plus, they’ll continue to be NBA free agents while they play in the G League.

A player whose returning rights are held by a G League team can’t become an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted rookies typically make up a substantial portion of the annual league-wide list of affiliate players.

Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days and weeks leading up to the regular season. An affiliate player also can’t have received a partial guarantee worth more than $50K on his standard contract — a larger guarantee would make him ineligible to join his club’s NBAGL affiliate for the rest of that league year.

Finally, not every NBA team has a G League affiliate, so there are two teams – the Suns and Trail Blazers – with no place to send affiliate players.

With the G League season set to get underway today, we’ll be publishing this year’s list of affiliate players soon. By our count, there are 90 of them across 28 teams this season, but we’re still confirming that info.

Earlier version of this post were published in 2015 and 2019 by Chuck Myron and Luke Adams.

The NBA’s salary cap is a “soft” cap, which is why most clubs’ team salary will easily surpass the $112,414,000 threshold at some point during the 2021/22 season, if it hasn’t already. Once a team uses up all of its cap room, it can use a series of “exceptions” – including the mid-level, bi-annual, and various forms of Bird rights – to exceed the cap.

Since the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn’t feature a “hard” cap by default, teams can construct rosters that not only exceed the cap but also blow past the luxury tax line ($136,606,000 in ’21/22). While it would be nearly impossible in practical terms, there’s technically no rule restricting a club from having a team salary worth double or triple the salary cap.

However, there are certain scenarios in which a team can become hard-capped. Those scenarios are as follows:

1. The team uses its bi-annual exception to sign a player.
2. The team uses more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception to sign a player (or multiple players).
   • Note: In 2021/22, the taxpayer MLE is worth $5,890,000, compared to $9,536,000 for the full non-taxpayer MLE. The taxpayer MLE can be used to complete deals up to three years, while the non-taxpayer MLE can be used to complete deals up to four years.
     
3. The team acquires a player via sign-and-trade.

A team making any of those three roster moves must ensure that its team salary is below the “tax apron” when it finalizes the transaction and stays below the apron for the rest of the league year. The tax apron was set $6MM above the luxury tax line in 2017/18 (the first year of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement) and creeps up a little higher each season as long as the cap keeps increasing.

For the 2021/22 league year, the tax apron is set at $143,002,000. A hard-capped team can’t surpass that line under any circumstances.

In 2020/21, a total of 18 teams imposed a hard cap on themselves by acquiring a player via sign-and-trade, using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, or using the bi-annual exception. For many of those teams, the restriction was barely noticeable — they remained far below the tax apron and never had to worry about whether a roster move might put them over the hard cap.

However, there were a handful of teams – including the Lakers, Clippers, and Bucks – who had to be conscious of the hard cap all year long and carried an empty 15-man roster spot for much of the season. Even an extra minimum-salary player would’ve compromised the ability of those teams to stay below the hard cap.

Once the 2020/21 league year ended last week and the ’21/22 league year began, the 18 teams that were hard-capped a year ago once again became free to surpass this year’s tax apron. So far, nine teams have imposed a hard cap for themselves at $143MM in 2021/22 as a result of recent roster moves.

Finally, it’s worth noting that even if a team starts a new league year above the tax apron, that doesn’t mean they can’t become hard-capped at some point later in the season. For example, the Warriors are currently well above the apron, but in the unlikely event that they made a few cost-cutting moves and then acquired a player via sign-and-trade, a hard cap would be imposed and they’d be ineligible to surpass the $143MM apron for the rest of the league year.

In other words, the hard cap applies from the moment a team completes one of the three transactions listed above, but isn’t applied retroactively.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

A previous version of this post was published in 2020.

Players eligible for restricted free agency don’t become restricted free agents by default. In order to make a player a restricted free agent, a team must extend a qualifying offer to him — a player who doesn’t receive one becomes an unrestricted free agent instead.

The qualifying offer, which is essentially just a one-year contract offer, varies in amount depending on a player’s service time and previous contract status.

If a player reaches free agency with three or fewer years of NBA service time under his belt, his qualifying offer is worth 125% of his prior salary, or his minimum salary plus $200K, whichever is greater.

For instance, after earning $1,663,861 this season, Pistons guard Hamidou Diallo projects to have a minimum salary worth $1,729,217 in 2021/22. Adding $200K to that figure works out to $1,929,217, whereas 125% of his prior salary is $2,079,826. His qualifying offer will be worth the higher amount ($2,079,826).

On the other hand, a player like Magic forward Ignas Brazdeikis signed a minimum-salary contract late in the season and had a cap hit of just $49,510. Calculating 125% of that amount works out to just $61,888, so his qualifying offer projects to be $1,869,178 — his minimum salary ($1,669,178) plus $200K. The exact value of Brazdeikis’ qualifying offer will depend on where exactly the ’20/21 salary cap ends up, since minimum salary increase or decrease at the same rate as the cap.

The qualifying offer for a former first-round pick coming off his rookie scale contract is determined by his draft position. The qualifying offer for a first overall pick is 130% of his fourth-year salary, while for a 30th overall pick it’s 150% of his previous salary — QOs for the rest of the first-rounders fall somewhere in between. The full first-round scale for the draft class of 2017, whose first-rounders will be hitting free agency this summer, can be found here, courtesy of RealGM.

Here are a pair of examples for this offseason: 2017’s second overall pick, Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball, is coming off a fourth-year salary of $11,003,782, so he must be extended a qualifying offer of $14,359,936 (a 30.5% increase) to become a restricted free agent. Meanwhile, the 28th overall pick, Thunder center Tony Bradley, will be eligible for a qualifying offer of $5,277,669, a 49.0% increase on this season’s $3,542,060 salary.

A wrinkle in the Collective Bargaining Agreement complicates matters for some RFAs-to-be, since a player’s previous usage can impact the amount of his qualifying offer. Certain players who meet – or fail to meet – the “starter criteria,” which we break down in a separate glossary entry, become eligible for higher or lower qualifying offers. Here’s how the starter criteria affects QOs:

• A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a same qualifying offer equal to 120% of the amount applicable to the 15th overall pick.
  • Note: In 2021, the value of this QO will be $7,031,451.
• A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to 120% of the amount applicable to the ninth overall pick.
  • Note: In 2021, the value of this QO will be $7,705,447.
• A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to 100% of the amount applicable to the 21st overall pick.
  • Note: In 2021, the value of this QO will be $4,736,102.

Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina is one example of a player who falls into the first group, since he didn’t meet the starter criteria this year. The No. 8 overall pick in 2017, Poeltl will be eligible this offseason for a QO worth $7,031,451 instead of $8,326,027. Conversely, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (a former No. 22 overall pick) met the starter criteria and will be eligible for a QO worth $7,705,447 instead of $5,661,538.

[RELATED: Potential 2021 RFAs Whose Qualifying Offers Will Be Impacted By Starter Criteria]

A qualifying offer is designed to give a player’s team the right of first refusal. Because the qualifying offer acts as the first formal contract offer a free agent receives, his team then receives the option to match any offer sheet the player signs with another club.

A player can also accept his qualifying offer, if he so chooses. He then plays the following season on a one-year contract worth the amount of the QO, and becomes an unrestricted free agent at season’s end if he has at least four years of NBA experience. A player can go this route if he wants to hit unrestricted free agency as early as possible, or if he feels like the QO is the best offer he’ll receive. Accepting the qualifying offer also gives a player the right to veto trades for the season.

Only one restricted free agent, Bulls wing Denzel Valentine, accepted his qualifying offer during the 2020 offseason.

Finally, while the details outlined above apply to players on standard NBA contracts who are eligible for restricted free agency, a different set of rules applies to players coming off two-way contracts. For most of those players, the qualifying offer would be equivalent to a one-year, two-way salary, with $50K guaranteed.

A player who is coming off a two-year, two-way deal, has already been on two-way deals with his current team for at least two seasons, or has four years of NBA service would be eligible for a qualifying offer equivalent to a standard, minimum-salary NBA contract. The guarantee on that QO would have to match or exceed a two-way salary.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years.