Picking Up a Waived Player?

Heart-of-RnR
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Picking Up a Waived Player? 

Post#1 » by Heart-of-RnR » Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:17 am

Ok, I just want to make sure I understand this correctly.

If a player is waived at any point, any other team with roster space may claim that player off waivers and sign that player to a contract. Right?

Does the new contract have to be the same salary as their last contract before being waived?

If that player was in their rookie year when waived, would they be a restricted free agent at the end of their next contract?

The reason why I'm asking is because I would like to see the Cavs nab Nick Fazekas before Dallas can add him back to their roster. If they were interested in Fazekas, what would their options be?
bgwizarfan
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Post#2 » by bgwizarfan » Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:56 am

During the season, players who are waived stay on waivers for 48 hours. During that period, any other NBA team can pick him up off of waivers, and if multiple teams pick him up, then the one with the worst record gets him (or if it's before Nov 30th of a season, the one with the worst record the previous season)

There is a catch - if a player is picked up off of waivers, then that team pays the remainder of his salary (and would be on board to pay for any future seasons as well). Therefore, a team either has to have enough cap room or enough of an applicable exception to pay for the player. So if a player was making $5 million this season, and was waived (with all of it guaranteed) and then picked up on waivers, the new team's cap hit and luxury tax amount if applicable would be $5 million (they wouldn't actually owe him this year's entire $5 mil as far as writing the checks is concerned, though).

I'm not certain on Fazekas' case, but i assume he was completely "non-guaranteed." However, he was on the roster past January 10th, so this year's salary became fully guaranteed then. If the Cavs got him, their Cap hit would be $427,163. I actually see that Fazekas is scheduled to be paid next year too. I don't know if any of it is guaranteed though.


If the player clears waivers (the 48 hours), then he is free to sign with any team. The previous team is the team that pays him the remainder of his contract, except they can set off a small amount based on the player's new contract with another professional team.

I'm also not certain if Fazekas has cleared waivers yet...so if he hasn't, your window to move in would be now. I feel like it's been 48 hours, though... anyway thats my basic understanding of the waiver procedure. I still get a little confused when talking about non-guaranteed players who are signed to rest of year contracts, but that's not applicable here
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Re: Picking Up a Waived Player? 

Post#3 » by FGump » Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:22 pm

Heart-of-RnR wrote:If a player is waived at any point, any other team with roster space may claim that player off waivers and sign that player to a contract. Right?


If you claim a player during the waivers process. you dont sign him to a new contract. Instead, you are making a claim to take that existing contract, just as it is.

To claim that player, the team must have roster space, plus either cap room or a trade exception big enough for the contract. Or if the player is a minimum salary player, you can absorb the contract using the minimum player exception.

If no one claims him, he becomes an unrestricted free agent, open to whomever can sign him for whatever deal they can work, just like in the summer. (If he was traded prior to the waiver, the team who traded him away can't sign him for 30 days, but everyone else can.)

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#54

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