Heat Already Looking For Sign-and-Trade Offers For Thomas

I'm loving the Isaiah Thomas debacle going on here...this is great stuff. Makes for a very interesting read. I'm very curious to see where he ends up now.

orangeparka (MIA) wrote:

So for example, if team A comes in with like a $10+m/year offer (which I wouldn't find reasonable), then I'll match that and S&T Thomas elsewhere, because I sure as hell wouldn't pay that for him.

1. You can't match a UFA.
2. Even if IT was an RFA, you can not match and then S&T an RFA.

What are the exact steps to completing a sign-and-trade? Guess we should assume the use of PAs as well.

What are the exact steps to completing a sign-and-trade? Guess we should assume the use of PAs as well.

I think if he signs an offer sheet with another team you cant S&T. You have to either match or let him walk. So you have a decision to make. Someone could muscle you out with an overpay or force you to overpay. The S&T has to be agreed to before hand by the commishioners and you have a period to sign the player. Otherwise, hes fair game.

Well, for a UFA (which Thomas is), the trade would need to be mentioned at the same time of the new contract offer, example:

Isaiah Thomas
Year 1 - $12,000,000
Year 2 - $12,000,000
Year 3 - $12,000,000
Year 4 - $12,000,000

This will be a S&T transaction with Thomas going to team X for Y.

That way, the PA and Commish can verify the trade will work under all of the rules pertaining to trades and that the player would actually commit to going to the new team.

There's different ways of handling this.

Under the PA system (such as in GAH), the PA would have to agree to the S&T based on the player's factors and the situation/contract he's being S&T'ed into

Under a DDS system (such as in NLL), there's a sign and trade panel that authorizes S&T possibilities and teams are given X number of days of exclusive rights to try and sign the player (sliding scale depending on when the S&T is approved). If, after the exclusive rights period the team still hasn't re-signed the player, other teams can bid but the original team still needs to sign the player outright for the trade to go through.

Example in NLL: I reached an S&T agreement with the Pelicans in NLL for a player. We sent it into the panel and they approved it prior to free agency, which meant Days 1-6 were the Pelicans' days to exclusively bid on the player (an RFA FWIW). He didn't sign by Day 6, so we had to sweat out teams like the Spurs with cap circling around him, as well as the Day 10 QO deadline. Fortunately, he signed with the team on Day 9, and we were able to get the trade through.

Had he signed with the Spurs and the Pelicans matched, our trade was dead. Had he taken the one year QO, we'd have been sunk there too, I believe.

UFAs, the player has to be re-signed outright, period, and the S&T needs prior approval. It's just who approves it and when or if it can go through depends on the setup.