DBBL Contracts
Effective immediately following the 2003 season, the following rules will apply to keepers:
Click here to see an example of contracts for a given team
Each keeper you select will have to be awarded a contract with a specified length in years
You can keep as many or as few players as you want but the sum of all years outstanding on your teams player contracts cannot exceed 10 years.
Once you've given a player a contract, you cannot extend him later. Players must be released after their contract is up. So if you give 10 guys 1 year contracts, you HAVE to release all of them the following year.
When making trades, teams will be allowed to cover contract years of the contract player traded to the other team (i.e. agree to pay for some of a players contract in order to get rid of him).
After each season you get the used portion of your current contracts back to spend on new contracts to "signable" players (that is, players with no existing contract). So if you had five keepers the previous season for 2 years apiece, after one year you'll still have those 5 guys for one more season and you'll get five years back to spend on new contracts.
If you trade AWAY a contract player, you get his unused contract years back.
If you trade FOR a contract player, you must honor his current contract. Under no circumstances can a players contract be extended. Once it's up, he goes back into the draft pool.
Contract players can be released at any time but the number of years remaining on a players contract at the time he is released will be refunded in a pro-rated fashion. With the exception of a player who has died or officially filed for retirement, the first season after releasing a current contract player (as opposed to a player who's contract has expired) you will only receive 1/2 of the years remaining on his contract. You will receive the rest of the years back the following season. For example: if you cut a guy with 3 years left on his contract, you'll get 1 year back immediately and the other 2 back the following year. Think of it as a "cap hit".
Current contract players (and only current contract players) can be traded during the off season.
During the annual period period after contracts are finalized and 1 day prior to the DBBL free agent draft if a player suffers a verifiable injury teams his signing team may alter contract plans. For a new that year contract that player may be cut without penalty and the years used to sign a different player; carry over contract players may also be cut in this scenario with usual penalty applied.