Salary Cap Guru Larry Coon Names New CBA Rule After a Maverick

 

 

Yogi Ferrell has turned a lot of heads since his debut with the Mavericks on Jan 29th. And even though he may no longer be the Mavs full-time starting point guard, his impact on the League is still being felt. Larry Coon, author of the CBA FAQ[note]a must-read explanation of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement[/note] discovered a rule in the newest version of the CBA that he has deemed the ‘Yogi Ferrell Rule.’

 

The rule basically allows for a 16^th and 17^th spot on an NBA roster for two-way players (we’ll call them Yogis) to play part time on a D-League[note]Soon to be the G-League[/note] team and part-time on the parent NBA team. A Yogi can be called up to the NBA for up to 45 days during a season and their salary will be based on how many days they spent in each league.

 

This season the Mavericks may have signed players like A.J. Hammons or Nicolas Brussino to be a Yogi instead of using a roster spot on players that barely play on the Mavs but needed experience on the Texas Legends.  This rule could have also allowed for the Mavericks to keep a player like Quincy Acy instead of having to release him to make room for guard Jonathan Gibson and then Pierre Jackson earlier in the season. 

 

When asked about the new rule Coon told Mavs Fanatic, “We like naming rules after people – Bird rights, the Ted Stepien rule, the Gilbert Arenas provision, the Rose rule, and so on. I just tried grabbing first dibs at naming the new rules (plus it’s a sticky way to present it when I speak). When you think of a player to whom it might have applied, Yogi seemed like a good fit.”

 

Since there is a limit to the number of days a Yogi can be called up to the NBA Coon said, “Two-way players are technically D-League players (albeit at a higher salary than other D-Leaguers), who can be called up to the parent franchise for up to 45 days (at the NBA rookie minimum salary). If he hits his 45 day max, he can’t be called up to the NBA team for the remainder of the D-League season. Days outside of the D-League schedule don’t count toward the 45-day limit.”

 

This rule will start at the beginning of the offseason but don’t expect A.J. or Nico’s contract to become Yogi-Deals but the Mavs could take advantage of the Yogi Ferrell Rule this summer.  “There’s a new exhibit, called Exhibit 10, that can be included in regular NBA contracts, and which give the team the right to convert the contract to a two-way contract.” Coon said, “The team can’t convert a regular NBA contract that wasn’t signed with an Exhibit 10 included, so contracts that pre-date the new CBA aren’t eligible to be converted.”

 

 

In an interview with Basketball Insiders Coon explained the reason they decided to call this the Yogi Ferrell Rule, “The Dallas Mavericks found a nice prospect in Ferrell, signing him as a free agent away from the Long Island Nets (affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets). That wouldn’t be possible if he was signed to a two-way[note]The new contract that the Yogi Rule allows for[/note] originally with Brooklyn.”

 

It may not be on the basketball court, but Yogi Ferrell has made a lasting impact on the NBA. Like the previously mentioned Larry Bird Rights, Gilbert Arenas provision and the Derrick Rose rule.  These terms will be used by experts like Coon for as long as the rule exists in the CBA.

 

 

There was also a new rule that Coon named after former Maverick Brendan Haywood. Here’s how Coon described that rule to Basketball Insiders in that same interview:

 

“The handling of non-guaranteed contracts in trades has also changed, at least for contracts signed in July or later. One of the things that happened in the trade market over the last few years is we saw a lot of crazy trades not for basketball value, but for the guy’s contract,” Coon said.

 

The last year of Haywood’s 2015-16 contract was for $10.5 million, but none of the salary was guaranteed. The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired him as a trade asset, eventually dealing him to the Portland Trail Blazers for a sizable trade exception.

 

“For new contracts, they’re only counting that guaranteed salary in the trade math,” Coon said. “So, a $10 million player, $1 million guaranteed, the trade math is based on $1 million, not $10 million.”