With the Lakers looking to keep Jordan Clarkson, a look at what NBA restricted free agency entails
One of the biggest questions that the Los Angeles Lakers face this offseason is what they are going to do with Jordan Clarkson. Without question, the organization wants to keep the talented guard on the roster, but the question is whether or not it will be financially responsible to do so depending on what happens as he enters restricted free agency.
While the rules for an unrestricted free agent in the NBA are relatively simple in regards to what it takes to sign a given player, the rules for restricted free agents are a bit more complicated.
For a player like Clarkson who was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft, he becomes a restricted free agent after two seasons in the league. What then happens is that every team in the league has the right to try to sign him, but essentially it happens at the discretion of whichever team held his previous contract.
What it boils down to is that the team who held the player’s previous contract (in Clarkson’s instance, the Lakers) has the right to match any offer given to said player. In Clarkson’s case, any team could offer him any amount of money on a deal that’s longer than two years—even a max deal—but the Lakers would then have three days to match that contract with one of equal value.
This is also the case for other rookies as well, only they enter restricted free agency after their fourth season—provided that a team has picked up their fourth-year option and made a qualifying offer after the fourth year in the league.
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While this process for NBA restricted free agency gives the Lakers the chance to keep Jordan Clarkson no matter what, it does put them in the position to likely have to make a tough decision. We shall see which way LA ultimately leans in regards to making that difficult decision.