Player Retainers

[Monky15]

This is to help teams who want to keep their FA when the max offer isn't enough.

Instead of a static number I would make the retainer a % of the franchise. If the player ever leaves the franchise without the franchises consent then the retainer is returned. The % of the franchise used in the retainer would have to be scaled to its value when the retainer is given. IE Milwaukee would have to give a larger % of their franchise to the player than a player from the Lakers. I would be thinking around the 5-10% range.

Only one retainer per team at any one time. Once a player retires then the team gets to use a new retainer. The player keeps their retainer after retiring if they have played at least 8 seasons with the team. This offer is also only available to players that have been with their team for the whole of the last season and have played no more than 4 seasons total. A team can also offer a new retainer to an eligible player if they won't play more than 3 seasons together total. This is so a veteran isn't forced to retire straight away to accommodate the younger player without allowing them to play together for to much of their careers.

I believe this way a player can be suitably compensated for being a career franchise player and also addresses the issue of when the players get older and their name is worth more than their production. Also if the player is that good they could really lift the value of the franchise.

To address players like Durant and Love the offer could be made to players who would of qualified for the offer and are still with the same team and have never left. Could be maybe be persuaded to add a rule to allow players to return to their original teams if they sign as FA or are traded for bye the start of training camp 2015 and still be eligible for the retainer.

With some people predicting that all franchises could be worth 1+ Billion each soon having a potential 100M asset is always nice incentive for a player to stay with a team that drafted or traded for them very early in their careers. With RFA, the draft and rookie contracts I believe their isn't a lot agents can do to pressure a team into offering the retainer early apart from the fact that they have to decide to offer it when the player is a RFA which is a no brainer for players like Lebron and Durant.