NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA players’ association says it is seeking an arbitrator’s ruling in hopes that Jeremy Lin and three other players maintain valuable rights in free agency.
The union argues that Lin and Knicks teammate Steve Novak, the Clippers’ Chauncey Billups and Portland’s J.J. Hickson should be able to re-sign with their teams by using the “Bird” or “Early Bird” exceptions to the salary cap.
Those exceptions allow teams to exceed the cap to re-sign their own players.
Union executive director Billy Hunter says Tuesday in a statement that those rights are “among the most valuable rights that players have under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.” The union says it will push for a resolution before free agency opens on July 1.
