CAN A FREE AGENT BE SIGNED AND THEN IMMEDIATELY TRADED?

A team may resign its own free agent and then immediately trade him. The league doesn't like it, but the right to do so was established by an arbitrator regarding an incident in the '97 off-season involving Chris Dudley and the Portland Trailblazers, who resigned Dudley and then immediately traded him to the New York Knicks. It is not legal, however, for a team to sign a free agent not its own and then immediately trade him. 22. CAN AN UNSIGNED FREE AGENT HAVE HIS RIGHTS TRADED? No, the rights to a free agent can not be traded. The rights to a draft pick, however, can be traded. 23. DOES AN ORAL AGREEMENT CONSTITUTE A CONTRACT? This is another fuzzy area. The league says yes, but most players and teams say no. There was an incident in the 1996 off-season regarding the Miami Heat. The Heat had an oral agreement with free agent Alonzo Mourning for a new contract with a starting salary of more than 200% of his previous salary. Since the contract had not been signed, the Heat claimed ...  more