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Laimbeer wrote:What about a five year deal, 5M per with only the first year or two guaranteed. Is that possible?

Resistance wrote:

Laimbeer wrote:What about a five year deal, 5M per with only the first year or two guaranteed. Is that possible?

With Porter's new contract kicking in next season, I have Denver looking to pinch pennies where they can on the rest of the rest of the roster.


At the most, other teams can offer him a contract of four years in length.

Laimbeer wrote:

Resistance wrote:

Laimbeer wrote:What about a five year deal, 5M per with only the first year or two guaranteed. Is that possible?

With Porter's new contract kicking in next season, I have Denver looking to pinch pennies where they can on the rest of the rest of the roster.


At the most, other teams can offer him a contract of four years in length.

But how many of the four or five years would the CBA require to be guaranteed?

There are only a few specific types of contracts that must be guaranteed. All other guarantees are a matter of individual negotiation between the player and team. In practice, the majority of NBA contracts (especially for established veterans) are fully guaranteed. Non-guaranteed salary is most often used for fringe players (either at the beginning or end of their careers) or for the later years of long-term contracts (often in conjunction with benchmarks that allow the salary to become fully guaranteed over time).

Only a player's base salary can be guaranteed -- not bonuses or incentives. The percentage of base salary that is guaranteed cannot increase from one year to the next (e.g., if 50% of a player's salary is guaranteed one season, then no more than 50% can be guaranteed in any subsequent season of the contract).

There are actually several types of guarantees:

Lack of skill: A "catch-all" that means the player cannot play well enough to justify remaining on the team.

Death: The player dies while under contract.

Basketball-related injury: The player cannot render his playing services as a direct result of an injury sustained while playing or practicing for the team.

Injury/illness: The player cannot render his playing services as a direct result of any illness or injury, whether or not it was basketball related.

Mental disability: The player cannot render his playing services as a direct result of a mental disability.

Each type of guarantee is independently negotiated, so, for example, a contract might be fully guaranteed for injury or illness, but not for mental disability. Players do not qualify if their condition was caused by participation in a prohibited activity (for example, skydiving), attempted suicide or self-inflicted injury, alcohol or substance abuse, commission of a felony, not complying with the terms of his contract, etc.

Some salaries are only partially guaranteed, and/or the guaranteed amount can change based on certain conditions. For example, the salary in the final season of a player's contract might be unprotected for lack of skill, with the protection changing to full if the team has not requested waivers on the player (see question number 64) prior to the team's first regular season game of that season1. The protection can even be tied to performance benchmarks -- for example a player's guaranteed amount might increase if he played 1,600 minutes the previous season. For contracts and extensions signed under the current CBA, guarantees can be contingent only upon one of the following:

Whether the team waives the player by a certain point in time (and the guarantee must increase if the player is still on the roster)

Benchmarks relating to team or player performance, based solely on official NBA statistics

Benchmarks relating to the player's physical condition (for example, weight)

A particular injury, illness or other medical condition

The team's ability to obtain insurance on the player's contract

The required guarantees are as follows:

For sign-and-trade contracts (see question number 92), the first season must be protected for lack of skill.

For rookie "scale" contracts (see question number 47), the first three seasons must be protected for lack of skill and injury/illness for at least 80% of the rookie scale amount.

Qualifying offers to restricted free agents (see question number 42) must be protected for lack of skill and injury/illness. A maximum qualifying offer must be protected for every season.

If an offer sheet to a restricted free agent is subject to the Gilbert Arenas provision (see question number 43), all seasons must be protected for lack of skill and injury/illness.