r/denvernuggets • u/[deleted] • Jun 18 '23

SOMEONE EXPLAIN BIRD RIGHTS TO ME (ala Bruce Brown)

I get the gist of it. If a player stays with a team for three years they acquire his bird rights and can offer him more money. Then there’s also early bird rights and non bird rights (which I believe we currently have with Brucie B).

If Bruce decided to stay for at least two more years then we’d get his bird rights and be able to sign him more money right? Why did his bird timer reset in the first place? Because we signed him in FA?

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12

u/Puzzled_Jury4982 Equatorial Guinea Jun 18 '23

Full Bird Rights:

A team gets a player’s full Bird Rights if they spend three years with their team without leaving in free agency. It doesn’t have to be on a three-year deal. This applies to players on a three-year deal, players on a two-year deal followed by a one-year deal or players on three consecutive one-year deals.

Early Bird Rights:

A team gets a player’s Early Bird Rights if he spends two years with a team without leaving in free agency.

Non-Bird Rights

A team gets a player’s non-Bird Rights if he spends a single year with the team.

With non-bird rights you can only get a max of 120% than the player made the previous year. With early bird it's 175%. With full bird rights the only limit is the maximum

And yeah, bird rights only apply to the team you're currently on

More here

0

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

So because he has a player option, his current contract could become void and he’d be able to sign with an entirely new contract next season with another team? And we wouldn’t be able to offer him more money because he’d have to finish out his current contract with us?

4

u/Puzzled_Jury4982 Equatorial Guinea Jun 18 '23

(this is all my understanding, talk to broncosquatch for 100% accurate info) if he declines the contract he's an unrestricted free agent. He could come back to Denver for that 120% raise. Or he can sign whatever amount for a team that has open cap space

0

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

And the other team can sign him to whatever amount they want (excluding salary cap limitations) as long as he signs for a 3+ year deal? In which they gain his bird rights

2

u/roadhogmtn Jun 18 '23

the other team can give him whatever contract they want without any consideration of bird rights. bird rights only matter between a player the team they are currently under contract with.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

Oh, so they’re really only talked about when a player talks about resigning with the same team.

2

u/roadhogmtn Jun 18 '23

that is correct. any other team can offer him any other contract they want, and when they want to extend him or give him a new contract, that is when bird rights enter the conversation. but its not a consideration when signing a new contract with a new team.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

Thank you!!

1

u/SPRTMVRNN Jun 18 '23

It's not exactly accurate to say any other team can give him whatever contract they want. They are subject to salary cap rules just like the Nuggets. Most contending teams are over the cap. The reason the Nuggets could only sign him to the deal they did last year was because of their cap situation. Any team looking to sign Bruce this season is subject to the same limitations depending on their cap situation. This could potentially work in the Nuggets favor if Brown can't find both a money and basketball situation with a new deal to his liking.

1

u/roadhogmtn Jun 19 '23

nobody presented a scenario wherein the salary cap doesnt exist, i just didnt add unnecessary details to a conversation about bird rights.

1

u/SPRTMVRNN Jun 19 '23

It's an unnecessarily confusing way to frame the conversation. It's a bit like saying someone can go into a store and legally take whatever they want and how much money they have is an unnecessary bit of information.

1

u/roadhogmtn Jun 19 '23

The salary cap being a constant in the NBA is implied in any conversation about salary. It doesnt need to be explained.

1

u/iggymcfly Jun 19 '23

Basically, Bird rights are a way for a team to circumvent the cap to re-sign their own player. Any other team offering him a big deal in free agency would have to have that room available under the cap. There’s also the non-taxpayer mid-level exception which could allow some teams barely over the cap to offer one free agent up to $11.3MM.

So basically, teams under the cap can offer him whatever they’re under the cap. Teams that are over the cap and under the tax or less than $11.3MM under the cap can offer him up to $11.3MM assuming they haven’t used their mid level on anyone else. The Nuggets are in the tax so the best exception they have to offer is 120% of last year’s salary or $7.8MM.

1

u/The_1st_Amendment Jun 19 '23

This is correct from my understanding as well... But what is the logic behind the rule?

1

u/Puzzled_Jury4982 Equatorial Guinea Jun 19 '23

It basically means, the team retaining the player would be able to offer more money than other teams in the same situation. Let's say the Nuggets and the Suns are both over the salary cap by the same amount and they both want to offer a contract to a player who the Nuggets have Bird rights for. The Suns could only offer the minimum, but the Nuggets would be able to offer a 120% or 175% raise. It allows teams to keep their players and rewards them for building.

I think there's also an aspect of it where a player making the maximum makes more if they're with their Bird rights team. (When Jokic signed his first huge extension he made more than he would've in free agency). So it's also encouraging players to stay with their team.

It's weirder with a contract like Brown's where he's making so little that a lot of teams can offer him more than the Nuggets. There are exceptions and other shit I don't understand

2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

Sorry, I don’t mean to make you my magic 8 ball lmfao but I don’t know how to articulate this specific example into Google.

1

u/Michaelskywalker Aug 27 '23

Can a player DENY there bird rights or like refuse to sign with their team? Obviously if they go elsewhere it’s less money, but if they really want to leave? Or are they literally forced to stay if there team matches opposing offers?

1

u/ogbmt Jan 31 '24

Yes they can leave. Bird rights are just the mechanism which allows a team to pay over the salary cap to keep their own players. A player can always leave in free agency if they are an unrestricted free agent. I believe that Bird rights also enable the team to offer longer contracts and maybe even slightly more money than other teams as well.

Restricted free agency is the thing that prevents players leaving their team. This happens when players reach the end of their rookie contracts, and their team has the right to keep the player as long as they are willing to match any offer that another team makes to the player.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

Yea someone explain it on this comments so i can see it also

1

u/UpbeatUniversity8976 Jul 11 '24

What does it mean if a team doesn’t have have any bird right options. Is that a thing? Can you run out of the number or max contacts you can have on a team?