What are Bird Rights in NBA? Exploring players who are under this part of NBA's collective bargaining agreement 

One of the terms that is often thrown around the NBA is Bird Rights, which are extremely important to players. Given that free agency is about to start, it's important to know the significance of having these for a player.

The term was named after Larry Bird, the legendary Boston Celtics scorer. It started in 1983 when the league's collective bargaining agreement set the first salary cap. This limited the cash amounts teams could offer their players as salaries.

Bird's contract was set to expire in 1983, and he had the chance to experience free agency. He was given the right to negotiate his next contract with the Celtics, who were able to keep him for another five-year contract.

Bird Rights have different kinds, which are categorized into three rights.

First is the Full Bird Rights, where a player should have been part of the team for three seasons without leaving in free agency. It isn't important if the player had a three-year deal or a single two-year contract followed by a one-year deal or three one-year contracts.

This requires the team to give the player other options financially. If the team decides to re-sign the player, the most a player can get would be the maximum deal.

Next is the Early Bird Rights, which require a player to have been with a team for two seasons without leaving in free agency. If the team opts to bring a player back, it'll have to pay the player 175% of his previous salary.

The last one is the Non-Bird Rights. Having this means a player should have been with a team for a full season. This gives the team a bit of breathing room financially as it is only required to give him 120% of his previous salary.

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Which players have Bird Rights?

In the NBA, there are players who have the right to exercise this in their contract negotiations. While most players have opted to leave their teams to join other stars, there are those that chose to stay and be patient.

Steph Curry

It's known that Steph Curry hasn't tested free agency before. He was always given the option to re-sign with the Golden State Warriors, which is how he was able to sign a max deal.

Damian Lillard

The Portland Trail Blazers are lucky to have Damian Lillard, a star who doesn't want to leave the franchise. Due to this, he has earned a reasonable amount of wealth.

Kyrie Irving

Even Kyrie Irving, who's changed teams three times, has Bird Rights. He spent almost four seasons under contract with the Brooklyn Nets, which could allow him to be offered a maximum deal by the Dallas Mavericks.