Qualifying Offer value

[Garf]

Hi,
my understanding is that a QO is 125% of current salary, or the league minimum + 200k, whichever is higher.

When I look at the salaries (e.g. Teague here: http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/r ... tlanta.htm), other values appear though. Why?

[Three34]

Rookie scale contracts have their own values.

[Garf]

Rookie scale contracts have their own values.

Thanks for replying!

So do I understand correctly that the 15% only applies to the other RFA case, i.e. "all veteran free agents who have been in the league three or fewer seasons"?

Regarding the latter:
1. What about 2nd round picks? Since there are no rookie scale contracts for them, can they always get a QO?
2. What does "three or fewer" mean? E.g. in the summer of 2013, anybody who has joined the league since (and including) the 2010 draft qualifies?

[Three34]

There's no reason to differentiate between the two. Anyone with three years or less experience can get a QO, with the sole exception of players initially on rookie scale deals (who, as we've seen, have their own rules) but who had an option year or two declined. It's all about experience, so draft status is irrelevant. So is the draft year - Pablo Prigioni will be eligible for a QO this offseason despite going undrafted 14 years ago.

[Garf]

So is the draft year - Pablo Prigioni will be eligible for a QO this offseason despite going undrafted 14 years ago.

Cool example! But unfortunately for you, it only creates more questions in my little brain
1. So imagine in June 2013 Prigioni gets a QO from the Knicks.
2. He therefore is RFA.
3. As a RFA with one or two years in the league he falls under the Gilbert Arenas provision.
4. It forces any suitors to offer only something the Knicks could match. (Not sure about this one.*)
5. All in all, what's the max money he can be offered?

* - GA provision says that limiting the first-year salary to 5M enables the player's original team to match the offer sheet by using the Early Bird exception, or Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception. But here the Knicks don't have EB and might as well be taxpayers. So are they trying to say "we limit it to 5M so that the original team typically could match" instead of "must be able to match"?

[Three34]

As I said above, the loophole was addressed with this rule, but not closed completely. The Gilbert Arenas provision is primarily intended to protect teams from losing their successful second round picks, who are typically Early Bird free agents after two years. There are several situations where a team still might be unable to match an offer sheet:

If the player is a Non-Bird free agent, the team only has the Taxpayer Mid-Level exception, and the offer sheet is higher or for more years than allowed by the Taxpayer Mid-Level exception.
If the player is a Non-Bird free agent and the team already used their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception to sign another player.
If the player is a Non-Bird or Early Bird free agent with three years in the league (this rule applies only to players with one or two years in the league).
If a team has two Non-Bird free agents with one or two years in the league. They can use their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception to keep one of them, but would lose the other.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q44

Your point number 4 isn't quite right. That is the gist of it, but it's not watertight.

But Prigioni isn't getting this much money so it's irrelevant.

[Garf]

I really should learn how to read, eh?
Thanks for your patience!