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How does an NBA offer sheet work for a restricted free agent?

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published October 17, 2026. Last updated October 17, 2026.

What is an NBA offer sheet?

It is a signed contract offer that the old team can take over. When a restricted free agent gets an offer he wants to accept from another team, the player and the new team sign an offer sheet and give it to the old team, per the NBA collective bargaining agreement (Article XI, Section 5(b)). The old team, called the ROFR team in the CBA, holds the right of first refusal. It can match the offer and keep the player, or decline and let him leave.

How a player becomes restricted, what a qualifying offer is and how the rookie scale leads to this point are in the restricted free agency overview. This article covers only the offer sheet and the match. A first-round pick coming off a rookie contract becomes a restricted free agent when the old team makes a qualifying offer by 5:00 p.m. ET on June 29, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 4).

What must the new team have?

Cap room. The CBA says the new team must have room under the cap for the player's contract when the offer sheet is signed and must keep that room for as long as the offer sheet is outstanding, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 5(b)). A team over the cap cannot use an exception to sign a restricted free agent. The cap guide lists the payroll levels. Three more limits apply to the contract:

• The offer sheet must cover more than one season, not counting an option year. If the old team also tendered a maximum qualifying offer, it must cover more than two.
• It cannot be a two-way contract.
• Only one offer sheet signed by a restricted free agent can be outstanding at a time. It can be withdrawn only with the written consent of the old team, the new team and the player.

What is different for a player with one or two years of service?

The first-year salary is limited. An offer sheet for a restricted free agent with one or two years of service cannot pay more in the first year than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 5(d)). For 2026-27 that exception is $15,044,000, per the NBA and Hoops Rumors. If the offer sheet uses the maximum allowed for two years, the third year can be larger, but then it must be fully protected, with no bonuses, and the fourth-year change is limited to 4.5%.

How does the old team match?

By paying for the contract with room or an exception. The old team can match with cap room, a veteran free agent exception (the Bird exception) or the minimum salary exception, and for a player with one or two years of service it can also use the non-taxpayer mid-level or early Bird exception, per the CBA (Article VII, Sections 6(b) and 6(e)). It must hold an amount at least equal to the first-year salary plus unlikely bonuses when it gives notice, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 5(c)). Bird rights are explained in the glossary entry.

The notice must arrive on time. If the old team receives the offer sheet before noon ET, it has until 11:59 p.m. ET the next day. If it receives it at noon or later, it has until 11:59 p.m. ET two days later, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 5(g)). An offer sheet received during the moratorium gives the old team until 11:59 p.m. ET on July 7, per Section 5(i).

Which terms must the old team match?

Only the principal terms. The CBA lists only four: the length of the contract, the fixed pay (signing bonus, base compensation and deferred pay on specified dates), the likely bonuses based on team performance and the league honors bonuses, and allowable amendments such as protection of base compensation or a trade bonus, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 5(e)). If the old team matches, the player and the old team have a contract with those principal terms and none of the other terms in the offer, per Section 5(g). The contract cannot be amended for one year.

What happens after a match or a pass?

If the old team matches, it cannot trade the player for one year without his consent. Even with his consent, no team, including the old team, can trade him to the team whose offer sheet was matched for one year, per the CBA (Article XI, Section 5(j)). The old team also cannot match as part of an agreement to trade the contract, which is how the CBA keeps a sign-and-trade separate from a match (Section 5(m)).

If the old team passes or misses the deadline, the player and the new team have a contract with all the terms in the offer sheet. That contract also cannot be amended for a year, per Section 5(h). A physical can apply: the offer sheet can require one within two days of signing, per Section 5(f), and the old team can condition a match on one within two days, per Section 5(k).

What does the timeline look like?

1. By June 29. The old team makes the qualifying offer.
2. July 1. The player becomes a restricted free agent.
3. Any day after. A new team with cap room signs the offer sheet with him.
4. The match window. The old team decides before the deadline above.
5. March 1. If the player has not signed an offer sheet by then and does not sign with the old team before the season ends, the old team can keep its right by making the same qualifying offer again by June 29, per Section 5(a).

What should a player and an agent ask?

Agents notice that a restricted free agent's market is narrow, because only teams with cap room can sign an offer sheet and the old team has the final word. Before the player signs, ask how much of the offer is a principal term, which team has room, and how the one-year trade limit affects the player. The broader move into the league is in the professional basketball guide.