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Larry Bird exception
Perhaps 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. Bird-exception contracts can be up to six years in length.
An example of this would be Larry Bird.
[edit]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 five 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.
A much-publicized example for this was Devean George, who vetoed his inclusion into a larger trade during the 2007-08 that would have sent him from the Dallas Mavericks to the New Jersey Nets.
[edit]Non-Bird exception
Free Agents who qualify for this exception are called "non-qualifying free agents" in the CBA, meaning they do not qualify under either the Larry Bird Exception or the Early Bird Exception. Under this exception, teams can re-sign a player to a contract beginning at either 120% of his salary for the previous season, or 120% of the league's minimum salary, whichever amount is higher. Contracts signed under the Non-Bird exception can last up to six years.

if we use lee's bird rights to pay him a lot, whatever we sign him to for the 2010-11 season will count against the money left over to sign other FA's.

so if we sign him to 11 mil, that takes 11 mil off our cap space figure that we want to sign others.

meaning no way can we then sign two max FAs

but birn rights really would mean signing lee to a max deal...

then you can forget even signing one other Max FA because then lee is the Max fa

jimimou wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:I think the way it works is, if we renounce Lee, we have to take on Larry Bird and his outrageous salary. I don't even think that guy can play at the NBA level anymore, but there it is.

you are just completely off the map today jones

I thrive on chaos and confusion.

Marv wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:

jimimou wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:I think the way it works is, if we renounce Lee, we have to take on Larry Bird and his outrageous salary. I don't even think that guy can play at the NBA level anymore, but there it is.

you are just completely off the map today jones

I thrive on chaos and confusion.

tell us about your childhood.

lol