What is qualifying offer?
A qualifying offer is a one-year contract offer an NBA team extends to a player coming off his contract to make him a restricted free agent. If the player accepts it, he plays one more season and becomes unrestricted afterward.
How it works
The team must extend it before free agency opens. Its amount is set by the collective bargaining agreement: for players coming off rookie-scale deals it depends on draft position, and for others it depends on prior salary and service.
The offer is guaranteed if accepted. The player can also ignore it, sign an offer sheet elsewhere, or negotiate a longer deal with his own team.
Accepting the qualifying offer is a bet on yourself: less money now in exchange for unrestricted free agency a year later.
The numbers
If accepted
While outstanding
The next summer
An example
A team extends a qualifying offer to its fourth-year guard. No offer sheets arrive. He accepts the one-year deal and enters the next free agency with no matching rights attached.
What it means for a player
The qualifying offer is a floor, not an assessment. The real question is whether a multiyear deal now is worth more than an unrestricted market next year.
Sources
Reviewed September 26, 2026 by McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM, certified WNBA player agent and former certified NBA agent. Figures are refreshed each July. General information, not legal, tax or financial advice.