Players claimed off waivers

[ranger001]

Are there any restrictions on players claimed off waivers? e.g. can that player be traded immediately or re-waived after a week say. Can he be traded back to his original team?

[jaywalkszzz]

e.g. can that player be traded immediately

No.

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

“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.”

or re-waived after a week say.

When a successful waiver claim is made for a player, it seems that the receiving team can immediately initiate the waiver process for that same player. However, the receiving team would have to pay a $1,000 fee to claim the player off waivers and they would also be responsible for paying the player’s remaining salary on the original contract (assuming a third team doesn't claim the player off waivers). So it would be a charity to the league office and the original team’s payroll with no benefit to the receiving/re-waiving team.

Are there any restrictions on players claimed off waivers?

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

“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, whichever is earlier.

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.

Can he be traded back to his original team?

Depends if the league will block a trade involving a third team by citing circumvention of the CBA.

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

“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 if this was done in order to circumvent the rule.”

[DBoys]

“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, whichever is earlier.

This part of the info and explanation, and what follows, is really a restriction regarding TRADED players, not waived-and-claimed players.

[jaywalkszzz]

“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, whichever is earlier.

This part of the info and explanation, and what follows, is really a restriction regarding TRADED players, not waived-and-claimed players.

Good point.

So technically a waived-and-claimed player can be traded back to his original team after 30 days (if claimed during the season) or on the 30th day of the following season (if claimed during the offseason) ?

If so, it doesn’t seem like it would ever happen. It seems the original team would go through a clerical headache and would be giving up assets just to trade a player back who they could have just kept in the first place.