New CBA Includes "Gary Payton" Rule <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Call this one the Gary Payton Rule: Players who are traded and then waived by their new team cannot sign back with the team that traded them for 30 days (20 days in the offseason). Payton, you'll recall, was dealt from Boston to Atlanta in the Antoine Walker trade-deadline swap in February, only to rejoin the Celtics three days later. Had this rule been in place last season, Payton still would have been eligible for the playoffs after Atlanta released him March 1, but he would have been forced to wait until March 31 to re-sign with Boston.</div> http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/stor...marc&id=2121672 Back then, it was the league making new rules after Red Auerbach found loopholes...now it's Danny Ainge who's the creative one. Ainge was on both sides of this scenario. One with GP, and one with Lindsay Hunter.
Definitely a good rule. The Celtics got Walker for a really cheap price, nothing. Then the same move helped them get over the hump and take the division title.
Seeing what happened with GP last season, it seemed like a tremendously odd situation, but not a dangerous one. I guess I don't see the harm in it, as a matter of fact, it may have saved Payton from retiring right then. There's no way he would have played in Atlanta, and I think we can all agree he didn't want to move his family again. Although the point about Ainge working a deal Auerbach-style was pretty funny. I've said it from the get-go, in Danny I Trust.
