What is the Bird rule?
RE: What is the Bird rule?
Now we’re into collective bargaining details...
If you don’t like to go into the details, don’t read this, but if you are, here goes...
The NBA salary cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed to pay their players. It is defined by the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA). This limit is subject to a complex system of rules and exceptions and as such is considered a “soft” cap.
The Larry Bird exception is the most well-known of the NBA’s salary cap exceptions, it is so named because the Boston Celtics were the first team permitted to exceed the salary cap to re-sign one of their own players (in that case, Larry Bird).
Free agents who qualify for this exception are called “qualifying veteran free agents” or “Bird Free Agents” in the CBA, and this exception falls under the auspices of the Veteran Free Agent exception. In essence, the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary.
To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. This means a player can obtain “Bird rights” by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination thereof. It also means that when a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team can use the Bird exception to re-sign him.
There is also the Early Bird exception. This is the lesser form of the Larry Bird Exception. Free agents who qualify for this exception are called “early qualifying veteran free agents,” and qualify after playing two seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent.
Using this exception, a team can re-sign its own free agent for either 175% of his salary the previous season, or the NBA’s average salary, whichever is greater. Early Bird contracts must be for at least two seasons, but can last no longer than four seasons. If a team agrees to a trade that would make a player lose his Early Bird Rights, he has the power to veto the trade.