Chapter 284 Poison Contract (5/5)

Chapter 284 Poison Contract (55)

The time came to July 1, and the door to the NBA free agent market officially opened.

Howard's whereabouts are still the focus of everyone's attention, but it is obviously not a matter of overnight.

Just like a court drama, there is a high probability that there will be twists and turns.

Even because many teams with space are waiting for Howard's choice, there are not many signings after the opening of the free market this year.

The first player to reach a contract extension is a bit surprising.

Yi Jianlian and the Mavericks reached a 2-year 5 million verbal contract extension, of which the second year is a player option.

Yi Jianlian managed to stay in the NBA with half a season of outstanding performance, and signed a 1+1 contract, which also shows that he is very confident in himself now.

"Germany Yi Jianlian" immediately praised the signing.

This shows that Yi Jianlian's performance last season was also recognized by his teammates.

In the next few days, small signings were reached in the free market one after another.

The Hornets renewed Eric Gordon, the Nets renewed Gerald Wallace, and the Timberwolves offered the restricted Batum a four-year 45 million offer contract.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

But when the free market came to the fifth day, the Rockets suddenly jumped out to attract everyone's attention.

They quoted Jeremy Lin of the Knicks for a four-year, 28.8 million contract.

This is a very special contract.

As early as 2003, the rules of the league were still not fully standardized.

As a second-round pick, Arenas received a 6-year 65 million offer from the Wizards after his 2-year rookie contract with the Warriors expired.

At that time, the Warriors had exceeded the salary cap, and they could only offer Arenas a contract extension with a starting salary of 4.9 million at most.

The gap between these two contracts is too large, and the Warriors can only watch Arenas, who has become a quasi-All-Star, leave Washington.

This caused the Warriors a huge loss at the time and fell into a very long period of turmoil.

Since then, the league has introduced the famous "Arenas Clause".

The Arenas clause stipulates that for restricted free agents who have played in the NBA for 1 to 2 years, in the invitation contracts offered by other teams, the first-year salary must not exceed the middle-class clause of the year.

In this clause, it is also stipulated that the salary in the second year is subject to a maximum increase of 8%.

The third-year salary can be increased significantly, it can be the highest salary that the team can provide when exercising the option, and it is not subject to the average salary rule.

At the same time, the salary provided in the contract must be guaranteed and not include any other form of bonus.

And if the increase in the third year exceeds the 8% standard, the league will set an additional limit for the team: in order to be able to determine the maximum salary that the team can pay, they not only confirm whether the salary in the first year meets the standard. Standard, they must confirm that the average salary throughout the contract period is below the maximum salary.

Arenas has a very long clause, which roughly means that the first two years can only be a middle-level contract, but the third year can directly provide a maximum salary.

But when making this offer, you must have enough salary space, and the average annual salary cannot be higher than this space.

For example, if a team has a space of 8 million US dollars away from the maximum salary, it must ensure that the total contract value does not exceed 24 million for 3 years, 32 million for 4 years, and 40 million for 5 years.

If this space is 11 million, then the maximum contract can only be 55 million for 5 years.

The contract offered by the Rockets to Jeremy Lin is a contract within 4 years and 3200.

5 million in the first year, 5.4 million in the second year, and an average annual salary of 9.3 million in the next two years.

The Knicks quickly matched.

General manager Grunwald has publicly stated that the Knicks will match any offer for Jeremy Lin.

What the phrase means, "Linsanity" is an integral part of the Knicks.

The NBA is a business league. Back when Yao Ming helped the poorest owner of the Rockets explode in value more than ten times, the Chinese market attracted many teams.

After Jeremy Lin played Lin's crazy season, the Knicks management said this, obviously targeting the huge Chinese market.

But not long after the Knicks matched the contract, the Rockets offered another three-year 25.1 million contract.

This contract is very similar to the previous offer contract, but the difference is that this is the three-year maximum offer contract that the Rockets can offer.

Jeremy Lin's third-year contract will reach the maximum salary, which is 13.8 million!

What is the concept of 13.8 million at this time?

Also in the Knicks, Tyson Chandler, who just won the best defensive player last season, has a salary of 13.6 million in the new season!

Ibaka, one of the team's four young players, has just reached a contract extension with the Thunder. In the first year of the new contract, his salary is 12.25 million!

And even the absolute core of the Pacers last season, All-Star player Danny Granger, his contract salary next season is only 13.69 million!

Jeremy Lin's performance last season was crazy enough, but he must renew his contract with a maximum salary, and his hands must shake when he agrees.

Originally, the huge Chinese market behind Jeremy Lin could make the Knicks, which has always been rich, not hesitate.

But the Knicks now have extended contracts with Anthony, Stoudemire and Chandler.

If Jeremy Lin's offer is matched, the team's salary space will be blown up in the 2014-2015 season.

Then it is not a question of how much luxury tax to pay.

In the end, the Knicks chose to give up the match and watched Jeremy Lin being poached by the Rockets in vain.

The Rockets traded away Lowry before, and Dragic, who became a free agent, just chose to sign with the Suns. Getting Jeremy Lin is a great supplement to them.

However, this is not over. After getting Jeremy Lin, they gave the Bulls' backup center, Omer Asik, the same contract.

Asik averaged 3.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the Bulls last season. As a backup center, he performed well in limited playing time.

The Bulls also forfeited the match.

They have more cap space than the Knicks, and it's impossible to match such a contract for a role player.

Ever since, relying on the Arenas clause, the Rockets had nothing but white wolves, and they put together their starting point guard and center at once.

Darrell Morey also became the focus of the league in an instant because of these two contracts.

"It's a poison contract."

After the two signings were reached, ESPN columnist Chad Ford commented for the first time.

"The original intention of the Arenas clause is to help the home team retain players, but many people may not have noticed that in order to protect the interests of the players, there is an additional condition: after the bid team is successful, the player will only occupy the salary of the average annual salary of the contract. space.

What does it mean?

Taking Jeremy Lin as an example, he will only occupy about 8 million salary space per year in the Rockets, but in the Knicks, he will occupy the Knicks' salary space of 13.8 million in the last year.

Such a contract will become very difficult to trade.

So for the home team, this is a cup of poisoned milk, forcing the team to stay will bear completely unbearable salary pressure in the third year of the contract. "