Homer Jay wrote:-
Ask Kevin McHale about that. He lost 4 draft picks because they thought a verbal agreement couldn't be held against them. He would scream bloody murder if the league let Stack, Thorn, and Cuban's verbal agreement stand.
Actually there was a WRITTEN agreement. And it called for paying a player money to the side, which is expressly forbidden in the rules.
On the other hand, signing a deal with a team that traded you, as a free agent, is NOT forbidden. The situations are not even close to the same thing.
JES12 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
If Stern found out we were tampering with potential free agents, he could actually dock us and New Jersey some draft picks. Maybe even the one we would trade to NJ so niether team gets them.
Also keep in mind that teams with trade exceptions large enough to get Stack can grab him off waivers before we would have a chance to sign him.
Stern can, and did, do what he has within hios power.
Talking to Stack is tampering with potential free agents? No. A team is always allowed to talk to their own players, in anticipation of future deals. He wasn't a Net when they talked with him, assuming they did.
As far as some team claiming him off waivers, that won't happen. The list starts with GS and ends with Phoenix, and includes no one else, and neither team would want the salary.
GrandAdmiralDan wrote:-
I was going to comment that the original rumor about the NBA blocking Stackhouse from re-signing with the Mavs is completely illogical and I never believed it had any validity.
The NBA and the NBPA addressed this issue when negotiating the 2005 CBA and decided that a 30 day in season or 20 day out of season waiting period was the appropriate mechanism for dealing with the practice of players being traded, waived by their new teams, and then re-signed by their old teams. The so-called "Gary Payton Provision"
There was no such rule in the 1999 CBA.
The NBA addressed that practice by saying, "Ok, if you choose to do something like that, your penalty is that you have to wait 30 days in season or 20 days in the offseason"
I can't believe my old friend FGump has not weighed in on this yet...
I'm letting everyone else speak first, GAD.

My take is identical to yours. If the league wanted to outlaw this, why did they make a rule saying here is how you do it? They could have simply banned a player from going back to his old team, but didn't. That sounds to me like they are saying it's totally permissible, as long as other teams get a big head start. If they can't sign him, then you get your chance.
And I see Broussard's weak ESPN article where GMs (supposedly) are saying it must be illegal if he turns down deals from elsewhere to sign with Dallas. What nonsense; that's not evidence of illegality. Who wrote that, a mouthpiece for a Mav rival trying to sway opinion, rather than a reporter? That article was one of the biggest pieces of propoganda I've ever seen.
He supposedly cites an NBA GM saying "everyone is objecting" but is suspiciously short of actually asking those other GMs if they really are complaining. It sounds like a reporter doing a favor for a buddy, and trying to create an issue out of thin air like ESPN does at times.
If a player is a free agent, it's HIS choice who he wants to sign with, and no one else's. It's not a case where the first one to offer him a deal somehow has dibs on him. If he's just built a house and wants to be with his family in the city he's been playing in, he has that right.
GB wrote:The rule says that including the cutting of a player as part of the deal so he can return to his previous team is a no-no.
New Jersey had obviously agreed to cut Stack and Stack had already agreed to return. It was cap circumvention.
Really? How did they make this "part of the deal"?
The idea that things like this are discussed is a given, but teams CAN'T create an agreement like that even if they both like what is discussed. Why? Because it can't be written into the terms of the trade. And it wasn't. Therefore any such understanding can never turn into an agreement, and is unenforceable once the trade happens. Teams are free to do as they want with the players they receive, in their best interest, when the trade is done.
Thorn knows the rules. He worked in the league office. And he knew they had no agreement, and couldn't have one. So did Cuban, who had done a deal like the Stack angle before and knows it has no guarantees.