Bird clause: From the Celtics Savior to the "culprit" of sky-high contracts?

Danzu, let’s talk about a hard-core topic today - Bird clause. This thing is the "ancestor" of the NBA salary system. Without it, these maximum salary contracts that cost 200 million yuan may not exist at all! But do you know how this clause comes about? To put it bluntly, the origin of the Bird clause was that in order to keep Larry Bird, the league opened a back door for the Celtics. Bird's contract expired in 1984, and the Celtics' salary cap was over. According to the rules, he could not be renewed at all, but how could the NBA let go of the "big bird"? After all, at that time, the "Yellow-Green War" (Celtics vs. Lakers) was the league's money tree. Once Bird left, the ratings collapsed. So, the league slapped his head: "Okay, you Celtics can ignore the salary cap to renew Bird!" In this way, the Bird clause was officially born - the parent team can renew the contract for free agents who have played for three years with a contract of up to 6 years, with an annual salary increase of 10.5%, which is more fragrant than the 8% given by other teams.

But this clause not only saved the Celtics, it completely changed the NBA's team building logic! The three Bulls in the 1990s, the three Celtics in the 2008, and the “three giants” of the Heat all rely on the Bird terms to form a team. The most outrageous thing is that this rule also leads to early bird rights (understood as the Bird clause minimalist version) and non-bird rights (understood as the Bird clause beggar version), which even character players can benefit from. For example, Devin George, the Mavericks in 2006, directly rejected Cuban's deal with his early bird rights, almost let Kidd join the franchise fail! Let me talk about another cold knowledge: If the team does not implement the fourth-year option in the first round, even if the contract is renewed with Bird terms, the salary cannot exceed the original option salary. The Lakers broke the rules back then and could only give Devin George $1.41 million, and finally used the middle-class special case.

Of course, the most ruthless case of Bird's clause is Michael - I am everywhere - Jordan. In the 1997-98 season, he earned 33.14 million yuan and his salary cap was only 26.9 million yuan. Now he has to pay a sky-high luxury tax, but there was no such rule at that time. The Bulls relied on Bird's Power to get a huge fortune, and their lineup was not broken at all. Now? Haha, the Warriors renew their contracts with Clay or Curry, which one is not overwhelmed by the luxury tax? But then again, Bird's terms are fair - small market teams rely on it to keep superstars, otherwise they will go all out to Los Angeles and New York.