The Bird exception, named after Larry Bird, is a provision in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement allowing teams to exceed the salary cap to retain their own players. A player qualifying for the Bird exception, termed a Qualifying Veteran Free Agent, possesses “Bird rights.”
Earning Bird rights typically involves playing for the same team for a minimum of three seasons, either through a long-term contract or separate one- or two-year deals. Additional criteria for retaining Bird rights include:
1. Changing teams via trade, as exemplified by Gordon Hayward’s situation with the Thunder, maintaining his Bird rights despite a mid-season trade.
2. Completing a third season with a team after initially signing a partial-season contract in the first year, as illustrated by Haywood Highsmith’s case with the Heat.
3. Signing a full-season contract in the first or second year, being waived, clearing waivers, and then re-signing with the same team, demonstrated by Christian Koloko’s hypothetical scenario with the Raptors.
Resetting the Bird rights clock to zero occurs when a player changes teams through free agency, is waived and goes unclaimed on waivers, has rights renounced by the team (unless re-signed without playing for another NBA team), or is selected in an expansion draft. In the event of a player on a two-way contract, like Admiral Schofield, they accumulate Bird rights similarly to standard contract players.
When a player earns Bird rights, they can re-sign with their team for up to five years, with a salary up to the maximum allowed, exceeding the salary cap. The team holds a “free agent amount” or cap hold, calculated as 190% or 150% of the player’s previous salary, up to the maximum salary amount, providing flexibility for the team to retain the player. This cap hold is crucial, as renouncing it would forfeit the Bird rights, requiring the team to use cap room or an alternative exception for re-signing.
