Mutally unguaranteed contracts

[pad300]

Ok, you can sign a player to an unguaranteed (or partially guaranteed) contract - the team can let him go anytime for any reason...

Can you sign a player to a mutually unguaranteed contract? i.e. the team can let him go anytime and the player can choose to leave at any time (eg. if he got a better offer).

[Smitty731]

Ok, you can sign a player to an unguaranteed (or partially guaranteed) contract - the team can let him go anytime for any reason...

Can you sign a player to a mutually unguaranteed contract? i.e. the team can let him go anytime and the player can choose to leave at any time (eg. if he got a better offer).

The only way this is even sort of possible is if you gave the player a player option that then turned into a partial/non-guaranteed deal.

But even then, the player would have a deadline to opt in by. After that deadline, he can't walk away of his choosing. The contract would have an agreed upon deadline for fully guaranteeing (or several dates of escalated guaranteed amounts before becoming fully guaranteed) that the team could waive the player before. In addition, the contract would fully guarantee for sure on 1/10 (January 10th) of that season, as all contracts become fully guaranteed on 1/10 of each year. So, the team also has some deadlines they are held to as well.

For example, you could have a deal where Player X has until 6/30/17 to exercise his opt out. He doesn't, so his deal then becomes partial/non-guaranteed. The deal becomes fully guaranteed on 7/15/17, if the team doesn't waive him before then.

It is far more common for a deal to have a team option that then turns partial/non-guaranteed than a player option though. Very few instances of the player option.

TL/DR version: Not really. The player would have to decide before the team in almost every situation.

[pad300]

But if you can do it, because I can see some shenanigans here.

The Set up:
Assume team X has an FA, Mr. A, to whom they have have full bird rights, and he has a cap hold of ~ $15 Mill, and wants a contracts starting at $18 Million to resign. Team X would like to retain Mr. A, but would also like to pursue external FA, Mr. B. Mr. B is willing to sign for a contract starting at $18 Million, but team X only has $ 10 Million in cap room.
Further assume Team X and Mr A trust each other enough not to screw each other.

The Pitch:
How to get Mr A and Mr B to sign with team X...without making more space. At the start of the FA period, July 9th, sign Mr A to mutually unguaranteed contract for the vet min. Mr. A's option is to be exercised by July 30th, the team's option to be exercised by August 30th. $15 Million cap hold reduced to ~$1 million. $24 million in cap space to sign Mr. B to his $18 Million contract (say on July 10th). On July 11th, Mr A exercises his option and becomes an FA again. Mr A has still been continuously signed to Team X for enough years that they still hold his bird rights. Team X signs Mr. A again, using his bird rights, for a contract starting at $18 Million...

Umpire on the field calls:
Presumably there is something wrong with this scenario, but what...

[DBoys]

The likelihood of what you describe is quite small, and most of the scenarios you outline aren't allowed at all.

Non-guaranteed aspect of a contract can exist after July 1, leaving a team choices after that date.

But when it comes to actual option years. only one can exist. And it must be decided in June. So there can be no "Player Option" decided after July 1, nor a Team Option either. To the extent that one of those exists, it must be decided by June 30 at the latest.

In addition, having both an option (for either) AND non-guaranteed money in the same deal is so weak financially for the player that it only can occur where the team has a huge advantage in the negotiations in the 1st place.

[Smitty731]

DBoys covered it. What you described isn't actual legal because of when options are due.

[DBoys]

Let me add that from a practical standpoint, a deal where NO ONE makes a commitment is not even a deal. If neither one of you wants to commit, then no one has a deal ...and the obvious resolution, instead of trying to put something meaningless on paper, is that the player is in a free agent situation, from which you both agree to a newly negotiated deal, if you want another year. Or if you can't agree, walk away. That's really all that a "mutual non-guarantee" would yield anyhow.

[giberish]

But if you can do it, because I can see some shenanigans here.

The Set up:
Assume team X has an FA, Mr. A, to whom they have have full bird rights, and he has a cap hold of ~ $15 Mill, and wants a contracts starting at $18 Million to resign. Team X would like to retain Mr. A, but would also like to pursue external FA, Mr. B. Mr. B is willing to sign for a contract starting at $18 Million, but team X only has $ 10 Million in cap room.
Further assume Team X and Mr A trust each other enough not to screw each other.

The Pitch:
How to get Mr A and Mr B to sign with team X...without making more space. At the start of the FA period, July 9th, sign Mr A to mutually unguaranteed contract for the vet min. Mr. A's option is to be exercised by July 30th, the team's option to be exercised by August 30th. $15 Million cap hold reduced to ~$1 million. $24 million in cap space to sign Mr. B to his $18 Million contract (say on July 10th). On July 11th, Mr A exercises his option and becomes an FA again. Mr A has still been continuously signed to Team X for enough years that they still hold his bird rights. Team X signs Mr. A again, using his bird rights, for a contract starting at $18 Million...

Umpire on the field calls:
Presumably there is something wrong with this scenario, but what...

I don't think there can be a player option (or team option) for the first year of a deal. Once a player signs, they're signed through the season. A deal could be unguaranteed, but I don't think it's possible for a player to sign a contract then opt out a week or two later. The combo player option/unguaranteed year can only be done on the last year of a multi-year deal.

Now, say Steph Curry signs an unguaranteed vet min deal with GS, then the Warriors use the extra cap space to load up around him. Then they waive Curry with the intention of giving him a full 30% max deal. Except they can't resign him immediately after waiving him so the plan falls apart.

[DBoys]

"I don't think there can be a player option (or team option) for the first year of a deal. Once a player signs, they're signed through the season. A deal could be unguaranteed, but I don't think it's possible for a player to sign a contract then opt out a week or two later."

Correct.

"The combo player option/unguaranteed year can only be done on the last year of a multi-year deal."

Correct. But in almost every contract as written, that combo wouldn't actually be allowed. The prior year would also have to be non-guaranteed.

"Now, say Steph Curry signs an unguaranteed vet min deal with GS, then the Warriors use the extra cap space to load up around him. Then they waive Curry with the intention of giving him a full 30% max deal. Except they can't resign him immediately after waiving him so the plan falls apart."

Actually, they could indeed sign him again immediately, if he was a free agent. But "Curry, on a minimum salary contract" would never clear waivers.

[BdeRegt]

I'd add to this that it often isn't smart to look for crazy CBA loopholes. The CBA is a list of things you can do not what you can't do meaning just because something isn't covered doesn't mean it is allowed. I believe anything like the idea presented even if could figure out a legal way would not be allowed by the league office and deem it circumvention. They don't leak often but there have been times where a team thinks they found a move but league said no and it becomes a rule.

[giberish]

"Now, say Steph Curry signs an unguaranteed vet min deal with GS, then the Warriors use the extra cap space to load up around him. Then they waive Curry with the intention of giving him a full 30% max deal. Except they can't resign him immediately after waiving him so the plan falls apart."

Actually, they could indeed sign him again immediately, if he was a free agent. But "Curry, on a minimum salary contract" would never clear waivers.

OK, I knew there had to be an obvious reason for that plan to fall apart.