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ESPN indirectly confirms Blazers can use MLE or BAE to sign Claver, Freeland or Koponen to higher contracts than rookie scale in the future

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Using the "1st round picks that haven’t signed with the team that drafted them for 3 full seasons" clause in the CBA Article VIII Section 2 that only talks about "room in excess of the rookie scale", which the Spurs will likely try for the first time next offseason with the former draft pick Tiago Splitter (currently the best center in Europe but still under contract 1 more season). Chris Sheridan writes: "Yes, there is a specific rule covering these situations. We’ve checked the details with the highest authorities and discovered a few caveats: Rubio’s contract would have to be for a minimum of three years and a maximum of five, and the money that would be made available to him could be only from a team with salary-cap space or the midlevel exception, disabled exception or biannual exception." That makes it much more attractive for players who have established themselves in Europe after being drafted and would stand to earn more than their rookie scale amount when staying to come over to the NBA. And easier for teams to sign and pay them like a free agent even if they don't have cap space.