When an NBA player hits free agency, they do so in one of two ways. Unrestricted free agents are eligible to sign with any team of their choosing and are in no way bound to their incumbent teams.
Restricted free agents, in contrast, hit the open market in a similar way but instead of signing contracts with interested teams, they sign offer sheets. The player’s incumbent team is then given the opportunity to match that offer sheet and retain the player on the same contractual terms that the player negotiated with the third party team.
In order for NBA teams to ensure that their eligible players are restricted when they hit free agency, they must first extend a qualifying offer.
What is an NBA qualifying offer?
A qualifying offer is a one-year contract with a salary value determined by the collective bargaining agreement.
It’s rare for players to accept said qualifying offer but they are allowed to do so if they’re looking to hit unrestricted free agency as soon as possible, they’d simply play out the lone season under the terms of that qualifying offer and then be unrestricted the following offseason.
Of course teams can choose not to extend qualifying offers but that means that a player who could have been restricted will now hit unrestricted free agency instead.
For the purposes of understanding how qualifying offers impact the offseason, just think that, by extending one, a team is a preserving its right to match the contract another team might give that free agent on the open market.
For a closer look at the math behind qualifying offers, hit the glossary Hoops Rumors’ Luke Adams put together on the subject.
Below I’ve outlined players who have received qualifying offers ahead of the Nov. 19 and those that have not. This list will update over the course of the next 48 hours.
NBA Players Receiving Qualifying Offers
- Jevon Carter (PHX)
- Torrey Craig (DEN)
- Nando De Colo (TOR)
- Drew Eubanks (SAS)
- John Konchar (MEM)
- De’Anthony Melton (MEM)
- Adam Mokoka (CHI)
- Jakob Poeltl (SAS)
- Dario Saric (PHX)
- Denzel Valentine (CHI)
- Quinndary Weatherspoon (SAS)
NBA Players Not Receiving Qualifying Offers
- Jordan Bone (DET)
- Kris Dunn (CHI)
- Shaq Harrison (CHI)
