Restricted Free Agency (RFA) is an option for HAC owners to take advantage of to have more flexibility with their offseason moves. It is also a way for the league to have some activity in the offseason and create some excitement. Every team will have a chance to nominate one player as an RFA at no cost. A team does not have to participate in this, either by nominating a player or bidding on any nominated RFA players by other franchises. Restricted Free Agency will take place after keepers are submitted for about a week on the Fantrax league message board. Once a player is granted restricted free agency by a team, that team commits to that player as a keeper if there are no bids on the player. Any player acquired or retained during the RFA process will not count against a franchise’s $100 keeper cap; they will only count against the overall $170 salary cap. And any player that is acquired during this process will be on a one year, non-guaranteed contract. A player acquired through or retained after RFA must be retained until after that year's league auction.

An owner can only grant a player RFA during a non-guaranteed contract or a player not on a contract that was acquired in the previous year’s auction or as a free agent. RFA is a way to re-sign a player back at a discount due to lack of interest from other teams, or maybe use as an alternative when an owner isn't completely sure about re-signing a player. An owner cannot grant a player RFA while on a guaranteed contract or Option Year. An owner can pay 80 HAC Coins to for the right to offer RFA to an additional player. An owner can also pay 50 HAC Coins for insurance and be compensated in case they elect to not match the highest bid on a player. The explanation is below:

RFA COMPENSATION (50 COINS): This prize will allow an owner to grant a player Restricted Free Agency and in the event that the player's salary is too high to match, that owner will get coins back as compensation for losing that player. This prize *must* be purchased before RFA starts. HAC points scored are only accrued to the conclusion of the HAC season...not the NBA season, as the HAC ends its season approximately two weeks before the NBA season ends. So, if a player scores 1,900 points at the conclusion of the HAC season, but 2,100 points at the conclusion of the NBA season - the 1,900 total is what is used.

• For a Level 1 player, the owner would get back 200 coins. Qualification: 3000 HAC season points OR 40 HAC ppg OR NBA All-Star.
• For a Level 2 player, the owner would get back 150 coins. Qualification: 2000 HAC season points OR 30 HAC ppg.
• Any other player qualifies as a Level 3 player; the owner would get back 100 coins.

Bids start at $1 more than the player's salary from the previous season. If no one bids on the player during RFA, the original team will retain that player at a discount based on the chart below. Other owners will have one week to bid on each RFA player. If, at the end of the week, there was a bid on a player higher than the starting RFA salary, then the original owner would have a choice: match the highest bid for the player, or let the player go to the high bidding franchise. Whether the original team retains the player after RFA or if the player is allowed to go to the highest bidding team, that player's contract status *will* reset.

Another aspect of Restricted Free Agency is through the "4 Year RFA" option, available for 375 HAC Coins. A franchise can spend these 375 HAC Coins to offer a player RFA who is at the end of his four year contract. No less service time under contract will qualify. It is a way of potentially re-signing the player and preventing the player from entering the HAC Auction again. However, the player will still be exposed to the league. The owner would have the right to match the highest bid on the player and retain the player if there are any bids. If no bids, the owner would get the player back at a discount. The four year clock would then re-start on the player.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY SETUP:

Franchise owners will have a deadline imposed by the league to name their restricted free agent players. There will be a deadline for bids for each player and if an owner waits until the last day to bid on a player, that player's restricted free agency bidding timer will be reset for another 24 hours. This will continue until there are no bids in the last 24 hours. An owner who acquires a player through RFA with a high bid or retains a player because he got no bids does not have to sign a player to a contract. The owner simply acquires the rights to the player for another season much like how a player is acquired for one year in the auction.

Some other notes about Restricted Free Agency:

• Why choose RFA? - The draw of RFA is that a player may be able to be retained for another season at a discounted cost. If there are no bids for a player on RFA, the team that granted that player RFA will get the player back at a discount. This is the reward for taking the risk of granting a player RFA. The risk is exposing that player to other teams so that they may be able to bid on the player at a cost too high for the original team.
• What does RFA mean for a player and a team - If a franchise grants a player RFA, they have committed to retaining that player as a keeper if there are no bids for that player or they decide to match the highest bid. A player cannot be granted RFA and then be released into the general auction.
• How many times can a player be granted RFA? - A player can be granted RFA as many times as an owner wants to. If a player is nominated once as an RFA in one off-season, he can be nominated the next off-season too.
• What will a trade mean for RFA? - There are no restrictions on when a player can be traded after the RFA process.
• What is a player's starting RFA value? - The player’s starting RFA value, or the first bid, would be $1 more than his current HAC salary.
• How does the bidding go? - Every other team would have the ability to bid on the player for one week once the RFA process starts.
• Matching the high RFA bid - The team that places the player on RFA would have to match, but not exceed, the highest bid if they want to retain the player.
• Can an owner grant a second player RFA? - Yes, the owner simply must pay 80 HAC Coins to do this.
• Compensation for losing a player in RFA - There is no automatic compensation for losing a player through RFA. That is part of the gamble with granting a player RFA - the player may get bid up too high for an owner's liking. There is an HAC Coins option where an owner can purchase “RFA Compensation” for 50 coins. An owner would purchase this *before* the RFA period with coins. With this purchase, the owner would get compensation of HAC Coins should the owner decide not to match the highest bid for that player. However, there would be no refund if the owner decides to match the high bid or the RFA player the owner nominated gets no bids, and the owner retains the player at a discount.
  • For a Level 1 player, the owner would get back 200 coins. Qualification: 3000 HAC season points OR 40 HAC ppg OR NBA All-Star.
  • For a Level 2 player, the owner would get back 150 coins. Qualification: 2000 HAC season points OR 30 HAC ppg.
  • Any other player qualifies as a Level 3 player; the owner would get back 100 coins.
• Is an RFA player a keeper? - A player acquired from a different team through RFA, or retained at a discount during RFA is considered a keeper even though that player would not be factored into a team's keeper cap. However, no coin bonuses may be used on an RFA player like they would on a normal keeper, like to reduce a player's salary, for instance.

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