Max player?

[Alex]

I admit that I don't understand the NBA salary cap or their odd terminology. I have no clue what Larry Bird rights are and the mid level exception or anything else. What is a max deal? Is it the highest paid at that position or something like the NFL's franchise tag?

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

As I understand it, a max deal is the maximum possible deal that a player can receive at a particular point in their career. It is based on how long the player has been in the league and a percent of the salary cap, so every player's max deal is different than the next guy. It's set up in a way to prevent deals like Juwan Howard's 100 million dollar deal happening again. The NBA does not have a franchise tag. That's a max deal in a nutshell and the HS Capologist will be able to shed more light on this.Bird Rule is a rule in place for teams to be able to go over the cap to retain their own players. The teams also have extra perks to offer the players, such as an extra year and more money per year. It's a rule to help smaller market teams to keep their stars, teams like Boston, LA, Miami, and New York to retain their high salary teams w/o dumping players, and to keep competitiveness throughout the league.The mid-level exception or MLE is a contract that can be offered by teams who are over the cap (but also now applies to teams under the cap) so that they can sign players to improve their teams. I believe the contracts are 3 yr maximum/$5.0 mil for teams under the cap and 3 yr maximum/ $3.0 mil for teams over the cap. Without this exception, teams over the cap would be stuck with their teams in cap hell for years without a way to improve, other than the draft. In a way, it's connected with Bird Rule and the contract length/wealth of the exception per year is based on cap space as well. Another tidbit on the MLE is that you do not have to use all of it on one player. Teams can choose to sign multiple players so long as they do not exceed the $3 or $5 mil limit as a total, so a team under the cap could sign one guy for $2 mil per year and another for $3 mil per year under the exception.Once again, the Capologist will be able to shed more light on this subject and may even correct me and teach me a thing or two!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JTB]

Im not the capologist around here but I do have a "normal" understanding of the NBA's cap rules.

Im sure somebody will eventually comment on this thread and give you some really good details on what you want to know. There are some really smart board members on this forum but one thing I would like to point out to you about the NBA CAP is that I have read on multiple sites that the NBA team cap will be set at 58m this upcoming off season...this means that teams can only spend 58m on their whole roster, if you go over you will be penalized with luxury tax but I believe you can only go over 4m under the new cap rules.

I mention this so you kinda know where the hawks are this summer.

By the way I noticed that you asked about what a "max" contract player is...basically its a contract that the only the elite players in the NBA deserve Kobe,LBJ,Durant,Rose,CP3,D12, however there has been multiple teams over the years that made mistakes on giving average players max contracts similar to what the hawks did with Joe Johnson and it puts franchises in holes when these average players get these max deals.

(Hope Im being clear here)....so basically a max player gets about 15-20m a year. BUT understand this and I swear this is by far the most important thing you will learn....because the nba cap has new rules and because the team cap is said to be set at 58m this will DEEPLY put a dent in star players pockets who want to play with other star players.....this is one of the reasons you will see me shouting so much about CP3 and D12 teaming up wheather its here or somewhere else...Gray Mule said it best your either going to be a greedy ass superstar and suck up all your teams money and risk not ever winning a ring or you are going to take a pay cut like the Celtics BIG 3 in 08 or the Heats BIG 3 today to play with other stars and have a legit shot at winning a championship.

You dont win championships without star players AND you cant win championships with ONLY 1 star player....history shows this. I stress it so hard because if I was a star I would be looking to take down the Heat whos the clear cut team to beat.

CP3 isnt playing with any top tier stars and D12 top tier star teammate just went down with a major knee injury. The heat can dominate the NBA over the next 5 years or longer and they have a chance to change that this summer. But what will they do?

[Nicholasp27]

58M salary cap is different from luxury taxLuxury tax is more like 70M rangeOnce u go over salary cap, your options lessen...resigning own players, using exceptions, min contracts, etcOnce over the luxury tax, especially over by 4M, u get much stricter restrictionsTrades are also different for teams over the cap and also for teams over Lux line

[MaceCase]

PSSSSSSSHRR T said it in a nutshell, disregard everything JTB said.

[Buzzard]

I would not disregard everything JTB says because the part about having three max players is true. And the penalty gets worse for teams that pay it three seasons in a row.

NJ, Miami, Chicago, and LA have decisions to make over the next two off seasons. LA resigning Howard and keeping Gasol and Nash is going to hurt them. Chicago keeping Boozer, Noah, and Rose same deal, Miami keeping the big three, and finally NJ keeping Deron, Love, and JJ.. All four teams either get their luxury tax in line or face huge future increases for being three peat offenders.

It is why so many teams are clearing cap. Not just for free agency, but players like Gasol and Boozer could be had for a bag of peanuts and expiring contracts next season. Or maybe better, they are amnestied and resigned on the cheap.

There was a lot of posturing last season, we are going to see more of the same next year. These big money teams could maybe stomach the 3 peat offender tag so long as they are only a few million in the luxury. But I don't think any of them want that label while going into the 5 to 10 million dollar mark.

[Buzzard]

Unless a team is willing to pay 60 to 90+ million in tax, two max players is all anyone can afford over a three year period. Stern wanted to put a end to the long term big threes with a hard cap. Instead he got something close with the almost triple in fines for repeat offenders.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Buzzard

[Guest]

I would not disregard everything JTB says because the part about having three max players is true. And the penalty gets worse for teams that pay it three seasons in a row.

The original question was simply "what is a max deal?" I didn't see anything about 3 max deals or about finances from the owner's perspective. PSSSHHH was on topic and gave a good answer, I have absolutely no idea what JTB is discussing.

Of course, a quick answer to cap questions can always be found at www.cbafaq.com with this particular question found here: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q16 AND http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q17. It didn't sound like Alex wanted a full description, just a quick "the max salary is different for players based upon the number of years experience and if the player has Bird rights (three consecutive years without signing with a different team, but Bird rights only apply to the last team the player played for)".

[Buzzard]

The original question was simply "what is a max deal?" I didn't see anything about 3 max deals or about finances from the owner's perspective. PSSSHHH was on topic and gave a good answer, I have absolutely no idea what JTB is discussing.

Of course, a quick answer to cap questions can always be found at www.cbafaq.com with this particular question found here: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q16 AND http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q17. It didn't sound like Alex wanted a full description, just a quick "the max salary is different for players based upon the number of years experience and if the player has Bird rights (three consecutive years without signing with a different team, but Bird rights only apply to the last team the player played for)".

In a nutshell it is the most money a player can make for the maximum years he can be signed for ( 5 years by his current team, 4 years by any other team ).

[AHF]

The key thing to understand about a max contract from a team building perspective is that the max contract is an artificial restraint on that player's salary - meaning the player would receive equal to or more than the max in an uncapped market. A guy like Lou Williams gets exactly his market value since teams could afford to offer more and choose not to do so. Teams that can get players whose open market values significantly exceed the max salary are the ones with a big competitive advantage.

It gives the teams with the biggest stars the biggest advantage because they get to build around someone like Lebron at a max 20M salary when he delivers 35M worth of value. This is the same sort of reason players are so valuable on their rookie contracts (because the good ones deliver value well above their salary).

[Buzzard]

The key thing to understand about a max contract from a team building perspective is that the max contract is an artificial restraint on that player's salary - meaning the player would receive equal to or more than the max in an uncapped market. A guy like Lou Williams gets exactly his market value since teams could afford to offer more and choose not to do so. Teams that can get players whose open market values significantly exceed the max salary are the ones with a big competitive advantage.

It gives the teams with the biggest stars the biggest advantage because they get to build around someone like Lebron at a max 20M salary when he delivers 35M worth of value. This is the same sort of reason players are so valuable on their rookie contracts (because the good ones deliver value well above their salary).

Bron is probably the only player in the league worth half a teams salary. I don't know if I would be willing to pay Durant 35 mill a season.

[Guest]

In a nutshell it is the most money a player can make for the maximum years he can be signed for ( 5 years by his current team, 4 years by any other team ).

You just defined the word maximum. That is not the same as defining a Max contract, which varies across players (and for that player, it can vary across teams).

Also, not all players can be signed for 5 years with their current team. Ivan is not eligible for a 5 year contract from any team.

And AHF, while you are right to point out the artificial restraint on a player's salary, that seems to be a different issue. Unless I am misreading Alex, he just wants to know the number.

[Buzzard]

You just defined the word maximum. That is not the same as defining a Max contract, which varies across players (and for that player, it can vary across teams).

Also, not all players can be signed for 5 years with their current team. Ivan is not eligible for a 5 year contract from any team.

And AHF, while you are right to point out the artificial restraint on a player's salary, that seems to be a different issue. Unless I am misreading Alex, he just wants to know the number.

I am just trying to give the poster a simple answer without copying and pasting the whole CBA here as it concerns contracts. I think there is three tiers including rookie scale so there is no "one number" . If that is what he wants, he can't have it.

Here is something I got from a fantasy league I am in:

Max Yearly Salary Band 1 (0-6 years in the league) $14,333,344.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 1 (0-6 years in the league RE-SIGN) $15,050,011.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 2 (7-9 years in the league) $17,760,883.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 2 (7-9 years in the league RE-SIGN) $18,648,927.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 3 (10+ years in the league) $20,876,828.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 3 (10+ years in the league RE-SIGN) $21,920,669.00

This could be from the old CBA but it should be close. If you want the break down on the qualifications for number of years a player can be signed, I don't think we have room for that portion of the CBA here.

link:

http://paspn.net/default.asp?p=90&gmaction=32&leagueid=6107&seasonid=56

[AHF]

You just defined the word maximum. That is not the same as defining a Max contract, which varies across players (and for that player, it can vary across teams).

Also, not all players can be signed for 5 years with their current team. Ivan is not eligible for a 5 year contract from any team.

And AHF, while you are right to point out the artificial restraint on a player's salary, that seems to be a different issue. Unless I am misreading Alex, he just wants to know the number.

I agree. Having answered the question already of what a max salary is, I wanted to point out the on-the-court impact of a max salary which seems like the next logical question.

What is a max salary?

What difference does a max salary make?

Edited April 29, 2013 by AHF

[Guest]

I am just trying to give the poster a simple answer without copying and pasting the whole CBA here as it concerns contracts. I think there is three tiers including rookie scale so there is no "one number" . If that is what he wants, he can't have it.

Here is something I got from a fantasy league I am in:

Max Yearly Salary Band 1 (0-6 years in the league) $14,333,344.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 1 (0-6 years in the league RE-SIGN) $15,050,011.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 2 (7-9 years in the league) $17,760,883.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 2 (7-9 years in the league RE-SIGN) $18,648,927.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 3 (10+ years in the league) $20,876,828.00 Max Yearly Salary Band 3 (10+ years in the league RE-SIGN) $21,920,669.00

This could be from the old CBA but it should be close. If you want the break down on the qualifications for number of years a player can be signed, I don't think we have room for that portion of the CBA here.

link:

http://paspn.net/default.asp?p=90&gmaction=32&leagueid=6107&seasonid=56

You never gave an answer until now. That, and your answer is 100% wrong. It is from a fantasy league that does not conform to reality as far as I can tell. Just look at that salary cap ($62m) and what we actually have in the NBA ($58.044m). Also look at the maximum annual increase in raises (11%). You cannot do that under the current CBA. That, and they cannot even calculate the correct Max salary bands based upon what their current salary cap is set at.

Oh and I never said "one number". You are putting words in my mouth, I have been pretty clear about the Max this whole time. You are probably referring to where I said "the number" which is still consistent to the Max. The Max is a number that varies across players, teams, and time. Alex wants to know the number, it is not that he wants to know "one number" or "a number".

Edited April 29, 2013 by hawksfanatic

[MaceCase]

Stop muddling the discussion, AHF! Save your manifestos for when you are preaching to the lunch pail crowd down by the factory.

A simple and concise explanation would of just been pasting this:

2012/13 maximum player salary, 0-6 years service: $13,668,750
2012/13 maximum player salary, 7-9 years service: $16,402,500
2012/13 maximum player salary, 10+ years service: $19,136,250

Yea it's a percentage of the salary cap so it will fluctuate and vary by a few million from year to year.

[Buzzard]

Stop muddling the discussion, AHF! Save your manifestos for when you are preaching to the lunch pail crowd down by the factory.

A simple and concise explanation would of just been pasting this:

2012/13 maximum player salary, 0-6 years service: $13,668,750

2012/13 maximum player salary, 7-9 years service: $16,402,500

2012/13 maximum player salary, 10+ years service: $19,136,250

Yea it's a percentage of the salary cap so it will fluctuate and vary by a few million from year to year.

That is good but I think what is or may be confusing the original poster is the difference between what the players team can pay and what others can pay ( years, salary, increases ). And I am not talking about players like Ivan. I think this post is about what teams can give stars to get stars.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Buzzard

[MaceCase]

That is good but I think what is or may be confusing the original poster is the difference between what the players team can pay and what others can pay ( years, salary, increases ). And I am not talking about players like Ivan. I think this post is about what teams can give stars to get stars.

It's only a difference of extra percentage points and a year for the original team in regards to "Bird rights" but that is the basic framework that anyone really needs to bother with if they are discussing this at a glance or entry level.

[Buzzard]

It's only a difference of extra percentage points and a year for the original team in regards to "Bird rights" but that is the basic framework that anyone really needs to bother with if they are discussing this at a glance or entry level.

Yep, 4 years vs 5 years, 8% vs 11% raises, and I think on average about 1 million more per season the first year. All the pluses are of course for the team owning the bird rights.

[JTB]

Lol what's so hard to get what I am saying. He asked about max contracts I gave him a idea on what a max contract player is and it's only about 10 guys deserving a max deal in the nba. I then gave him examples of players that received a max contract but didnt deserve it.Now if he was asking about numbers I apologized.I was giving my thoughts about what a max player is and who a max player is. I thought that was clear enough. Also since this is a hawks forum and we do talk about the hawks I decided to give him my view about how the cap works.I'm not a dumb poster and maybe I worded something's wrong or took your question wrong. But at the end of the day REMEMBER THIS ....max contracts effect teams a lot more under the new CBA. I don't care what other posters are going to say if you see star players team up its because they took a major pay cut.In so many words "max contracts are going to become more extinct if you want to win championships"You have to take pay cuts to win BIG. Even lebron said earlier this season that he isn't getting paid his worth....and he's not.