"Opt-In and Trade" CBA Legal?

[OptionZero]

Scenario:
GSW wants to trade a pick for Josh Richardson, who has $10.8 for 20-21 and $11.1 for 21-22 (player option) remaining.
He signed that contract as part of a 4 year extension in September 2017 with MIA when he had a year left.

1) Would the CBA allow GSW, during negotations, talk to Richardson about picking up his 21-11 option before agreeing to the trade?
I recall CP3 picking up his PO for the upcoming season prior to LAC trading him to HOU, so that isn't quite the same.

The reason for this from GSW perspective is that $22M-ish for Richardson over 2 years is a positive value contract that justifies sending a pick more easily than if he needed a new deal as a UFA a ear

2) Related - the timing rules seem to make an extension unavailable if this were a "draft day" trade under e old calendar. A 2020 draft day trade in June or July would be about 2 months shy of the 3 year anniversary of the extension. Wonder if a revised CBA to account for COVID19 would forgive this and let GSW do it.

[DBoys]

You have a lot of pieces in that set of questions. Addressing some of them ...
a - CBA allows trade-associated discussion about option exercise and extension, but Philly controls the door to such a discussion.
b - There will be no draft day trades in June or July 2020. Any draft will happen after the season and playoffs end. Late August? Sept? Teams can trade once their season ends at whatever point.
c - JR is eligible for an extension already. (2 years, not 3, is the wait.)
d - If you think JR is on a massive bargain, then you should also expect while GS would then love this idea, it would be a non-starter for him anyhow -- he wouldn't say yes to that opt-in for another year in the same price range.

[OptionZero]

I am looking at NBA CBA FAQ #58, which states that for EXTENSIONS, the deadline is:

"Second anniversary after extension signed, if the extension lengthened the contract to three or four seasons (including any remaining seasons on the existing contract). If the extension lengthened the contract to five or six seasons (including any remaining seasons on the existing contract), it can be extended on the third anniversary after extension signed."

The third anniversary from Sept 2017 (date of extension signed) is Sep 2020. Obviously, with the offseason in turmoil, we will need to see how they handle this.

You are right, Richardson may very well see $11M as below his market. He is a good starter, so he is within his rights to ask for well above MLE type money. A raise may also soothe over any hurt feelings from a bench role, since that is likely where GSW uses him.

That's all stuff that will need to be handled during trade negotiations, back channel or not.

[DBoys]

Ok. I thought he signed a new deal, not an extension. 3 years it is. Would not be eligible until Sept 2020 for tacking on another extension. And if there is any revision to that date re covid, everything has been moved to a couple months LATER not sooner, so if they moved that date because of the covid stuff, a similar change puts his earliest extension in November.

My point about getting him to opt in or not, is that if GS sees "opt in" as very advantageous, then it probably doesn't interest him (UNLESS he is desparate to get out of Philly - but, why would he have any interest in being a backup in GS instead of a starter in Philly? Sounds so unlikely.)

[OptionZero]

1) Steph/Kerr effect of generally being likeable dudes that foster a positive environment
2) Better offensive system that isn't weighted down by two high useage but nonshooting stars
3) in the words of barbosa . . . "we gonna be championship!"
4) Living in the bay area

Those are all pretty subjective and i think they aren't deal makers

However, in this age of economic uncertainty, he might just wanna opt-in to lock in an amount that is definitely above MLE, now. Money in hand is worth something

If GSW builds an extension off of his $11.1M in 2021-22, they can get to $13.3M and tack on 5% raises after that for the max of 5 total years including existing years

20-21 (age 26): $10.8M (remaining gtd yr)
21-11 (age 27): $11.1M (opt-in)
22-23 (age 28): $13.3M (extension)
23-24 (age 29): $13.9M (extension)
24-25 (age 30): $14.5M (extension)

Aggregate: $63.6M over 5 years, taking him to UFA at age 30.

Looking at that and comparing it to, say, Danny Green's current deal ($30M/2yr), this extension probably does fall short. Even giving him another PO in the 5th year seems a little light. Richardson would need to value security over max dollars

[DBoys]

Backup in GS. Starter in Philly (or probably any number of other places).

GS isn't "the place to play" to somehow negate that fact. It's just a team. GS will ascend again with health, but isn't gonna be the same after subtracting the best player in the world and so many other key pieces.

More than that, players wanna play. Starters get more minutes. Backups get leftovers.

It's a job too. More minutes means more acclaim, more opportunity for improvement, and more money.

[PreyGirl]

Options can be included in any multiyear contract, but ETOs are allowed only with five-year contracts. Options can be held by the player or the team, but ETOs are always held by the player (i.e., there's no such thing as a team Early Termination Option). Option years may not have a lower salary than the previous season. ETOs have no such restriction. A contract with a player option can be extended (see question number 60) when the option is not exercised. A contract with an ETO may not be extended if the ETO is exercised. When determining the amount of a trade bonus (see question number 98), option years are not counted as part of the remaining value of the contract, but years following an ETO are counted.