HartfordWhalers wrote:SideSwipe wrote:# 1
Per Coon:
"Any player whose contract is longer than two seasons cannot be signed or acquired using the Minimum Player Salary exception, even if he is paid the minimum salary."
Per multiple sources online Harris signed for three years. (Hoopshype, Sportrac...Sham's not up yet)
1) It is my understanding that all that matters is the remaining years, and hence Harris is indeed a minimum salary player. Same way the Disabled player exception can only take on a 1 year contract, but has been used to take on guys in the last year of a contract that originally had many years. This wouldn't effect the main point, but I will triple check as its an interesting thing that hasn't come up before.
So, the actual CBA has 2 clauses in the disabled player exemption.
1) a team can sign a player for 1 year contract and
2)
If a Team wishes to acquire a Replacement Player pursuant to this Section 6(c), the Replacement Player must have only one Season remaining on his Player Contract...
(emphasis mine)
The minimum player exception in contrast has no such language:
Minimum Player Salary Exception.
A Team may sign a player to, or acquire by assignment, a Player Contract, not to exceed two (2)Seasons in length, that provides for a Salary for the first Season equal to the Minimum Player Salary applicable to that player (with no bonuses of any kind). A Player Contract signed or acquired pursuant to the MinimumPlayer Salary Exception covering two (2) Seasons must provide for a Salary for the second Season equal to the Minimum Player Salary applicable to the player for such Season (with no bonuses of any kind).
So, on a strict wording it would appear that it in contrast does hold and for instance a player in their 3rd year of a 3 year minimum deal cannot be acquired that way.
However,looking at the Nets TPE's from that season, they appear to have taken in both Brandon Davies and Casper Ware using the minimum player exception. They generated full TPE's for their players, and didn't have other TPE's to take on both minimum contracts.
Davies was in year 2 of a 3+1 deal, and Casper was in year 1 of a 3+ 1 deal. So, unless I'm missing some other way Brooklyn took them on, the minimum exception was used for players with 3 or 4 year contracts even. Which wouldn't be the first time something happened that shouldn't.