Player Options and new contracts

[Schad]

Bit of a question with Rudy Gay's impending option year. The CBA prevents someone from tearing up an option and replacing it with an extension beginning at a lower dollar value, or renegotiating a contract down. Does that have any effect on opting out of a PO, hitting free agency, and then re-signing with the same team for a reduced sum?

Ie., if Gay opts out of his roughly $12 billion '14/'15 PO, is visited on the night of July 1st by three ghosts who show him the error of his ways in rather maudlin fashion, and he rushes to the Air Canada Centre the next morn to put pen to paper on a 5 year, $12m AAV contract, it's kosher? Beyond the bit where he's clearly mentally disturbed and seeing phantoms, I mean.

[Three34]

Sure he can do that. Richard Jefferson quite famously did it a couple of years ago.

[giberish]

When he opts out to sign a mini-MLE deal with the Nets, then people get suspicious.