How Do Waivers Work?

by **Ram** Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:59 pm

How does the waiver wire work? Someone will pick up Hunter correct? Have they already?

It is my understanding that teams get to pick up waived players based on record from the previous year. But that probably counts all preseason so some teams may have already claimed players before the 15 man roster cuts and lost their spot in the picking order?

If Hunter is claimed the new team assumes the rest of his rookie deal correct?

If he is not, the Celtics eat his two guaranteed years from his rookie contract, which affect our cap, and he is essentially a free agent and could even sign with us again and join the D-League?

by **gyso** Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:52 pm

Here is some good reading on the subject:

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q65

65. What happens when a player is released? What are waivers? What is the Stretch provision?

Waivers are a temporary status for players who are released by their team. A team initiates the waiver process by "requesting waivers" on the player they are releasing. The player stays "on waivers" for 48 hours (including weekends and holidays), during which time other teams may claim the player and assume his contract. If no team has claimed the player before the end of the waiver period (which is always 5:00 PM Eastern Time), he "clears waivers." The player's contract is terminated and he becomes a free agent. The only way to terminate a contract early (other than with an ETO -- see question number 59) is through the waiver process. 1

The term "waived" is ambiguous -- it can be used as a verb to refer to a waiver request (for example, "The Bulls just waived Michael Jordan"), or as an adjective to refer to a player who has cleared waivers (for example, "A team can sign a waived player."). This ambiguity is usually easily resolved by the context in which the term is used. In this document the term "waived" is used as an adjective, unless otherwise made clear.

A team can claim a player on waivers only if one of the following is true:

The team is far enough under the salary cap to fit the player's entire salary.

The team has a Disabled Player exception for at least the player's salary (see question number 25), and the player is on the last season of his contract.

The team has a trade exception for at least the player's salary (see question number 85).

The player has a minimum salary contract (one or two seasons at the minimum salary, with no bonuses of any kind).

If a team makes a successful waiver claim, it acquires the player and his existing contract, and pays the remainder of his salary -- the waiving team is relieved of all responsibility for the player. There is a fee of $1,000, payable to the league office, for claiming a player on waivers. If more than one team tries to claim a player on waivers, the team with the worst record gets him.

If the player clears waivers he becomes a free agent, and is free to sign with the team of his choice. The player's roster spot is freed-up as soon as the team places the player on waivers. It can sign a new player or acquire one via trade immediately, without waiting for the player to be claimed or to clear waivers.

The waiving team continues to pay the guaranteed portion of the terminated contract (see question number 64). For contracts signed or extended before the current CBA took effect, the team and player may negotiate a revised payment schedule (see question numbers 67 and 68). The revised payment schedule may call for the guaranteed portion of the player's salary to be paid over a longer or shorter period of time than originally specified in the contract, or even as a lump sum.

Individually negotiated revisions to the payment schedule are not allowed for contracts signed or extended under the current CBA 2. For these contracts or extensions, a waived player's guaranteed salary for the remaining seasons 3 is "stretched" and paid in equal amounts over a greater time span, as follows:

If the player is waived from July 1 to August 31, then his remaining salary is paid over twice the number of years remaining on his contract, plus one. For example, if the player is waived on August 1 with two seasons remaining on his contract at $10.2 million and $10.3 million, respectively, then his remaining salary is paid over five years (two seasons times two, plus one), in even amounts of $4.1 million per year.

If the player is waived from September 1 to June 30, then the current season is paid per the normal payment schedule, and any remaining years are stretched over twice the number of years remaining plus one as described above. For example, if the player is waived on December 1 with two seasons remaining on his contract at $10.2 million and $10.5 million, respectively, then the current season (at $10.2 million) is paid normally, and the final season (at $10.5 million) is stretched over three years (one season times two, plus one) and paid in even amounts of $3.5 million per year 4.

The effect of stretched players on the team's salary cap is described in question number 66.

When a player clears waivers and signs with a new team, his new salary is a matter of negotiation. Few players are actually claimed while on waivers, since the claiming team inherits his entire contract. It is far more common for teams to wait for the player to clear waivers, and then sign him to a much smaller (even minimum salary) contract.

Other rules related to waivers:

Once a team puts a player on waivers, the waivers cannot be withdrawn.

If a team requests waivers on a player after March 1 (March 23 in 2011-12), the player is ineligible to be included in the playoff roster of any team that subsequently acquires him.

Players claimed from waivers retain their Early-Bird rights (see question number 25) just as if they had been traded. However full Bird rights are only retained when the player is waived through the Amnesty provision (see question number 69) 5. If a player with full Bird rights is claimed from waivers and the player was not waived through the amnesty provision, his status drops from full Bird to Early Bird.

When a team trades a player who is subsequently waived by the receiving team, it cannot claim the player off waivers or re-sign the player until the one-year anniversary of the trade, or until the July 1 following the end of his contract 6, whichever is earlier 7.

A "buyout" is actually a combination of altering the players contract to change the guarantee and/or payment schedule, and waiving the player (see question number 67).

For players waived through the Amnesty provision (see question number 69), the player's full salary comes off the team salary as soon as the team requests waivers. For non-amnesty waiver requests on or after July 1, 2013, the player's non-protected salary is removed from the team salary immediately; prior to July 1, 2013, the player's non-protected salary was removed from the team salary when the player cleared waivers.

If a team claims a player on waivers, it cannot trade the player for 30 days if the claim was made during a season. If the player was claimed during the offseason, he cannot be traded until the 30th day of the following season.

The 48 hour waiver period continues into and through the July Moratorium (see question number 104). Teams are allowed to waive players and claim waived players during the Moratorium. Salaries adjust at the start of the Moratorium, and the salary cap adjusts at the end of the Moratorium, so during the Moratorium waiver claims use the new season’s salary amounts and the previous season’s cap.

1 This does not apply to 10-day contracts, which can be terminated upon written notice to the player, without utilizing the waiver process.

2 In the special case of a contract signed under the 2005 CBA and extended under the 2011 CBA, individually negotiated revisions to the payment schedule are allowed for the seasons that were on the contract prior to the extension.

3 All seasons remaining on a contract are considered "remaining seasons" for the purpose of the stretch provision except seasons following a team option. For example, the Clippers waived and stretched Miroslav Raduljica in 2014 with two seasons remaining on his contract, one fully guaranteed and the other non-guaranteed. Both seasons counted in his stretch calculation, so his remaining guaranteed salary was stretched over five seasons.

4 Therefore the effective deadline for stretching the salary of a player with one season remaining on his contract is August 31. If the player is waived after this date, his one remaining season will continue to be paid (and charged to the cap) normally.

5 Per an arbitration settlement on June 29, 2012, the league and players association agreed that Chauncey Billups and J.J. Hickson would have full Bird rights in the 2012 offseason, and that Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak would have Early Bird rights. This assigned greater Bird rights to Novak than should have been allowed -- as a player who was traded while playing under a one-year contract, Novak should have become a non-Bird free agent (see question number (100).

6 For contracts with options or ETOs, the end date of the contract is interpreted as the June 30 before an option year, and the June 30 after an ETO year.

7 Interestingly, by the letter of the rule a player could be traded to a third team, waived by the third team, and be eligible to re-sign with his original team before the waiting period expires. However, the league likely would disallow such signing per the general prohibition on circumvention (see question number 105) if this was done in order to circumvent the rule.

by **Ram** Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:52 pm

Great information. Thank you.

So it has been 48 hours. Anyone picked up Hunter?

by **NYCelt** Wed Oct 26, 2016 11:15 pm

Ram wrote:Great information. Thank you.

So it has been 48 hours. Anyone picked up Hunter?

Ram,

The Bulls signed him.

Regards

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