NBADraftLottery.com

T.J. Ford Signs With Bucks

By: Jordan "Insider" Aibel

    T.J. Ford became the first of the thirteen lottery picks to sign with his respective team, agreeing to a 4 year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks late Wednesday night.

    The deal, which follows the NBA's rookie scale under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, is believed to be worth a maximum of $9,012,279, and a minimum of $6,007,702, depending on production. Although under NBA rules the exact terms of the deal were not released, here is a breakdown of the boundaries of the  salary that Ford could receive:

                     Minimum                               Maximum

1st Year-  $1,282,680                             $1,922,400

2nd Year- $1,377,840                            $2,066,760

3rd Year-  $1,473,920                            $2,210,880

*4th Year- $1,874,262                            $2,812,239

**5th Year-$2,526,505                            $3,790,898

    After the signing, new Bucks GM Larry Harris reiterated that Ford would be given time to mature, saying, "We're going to allow him to grow. I don't want to have unreal expectations of him." The Bucks are expected to re-sing current starting PG Gary Payton, acquired as part of a five-player trade with Seattle in February, and have him mentor Ford, molding him into Milwaukee's leader of the future.

    Last season with the University of Texas, Ford was named college basketball's player of the year, lead Texas to the Final Four, and led his team in total points, assists, and steals. Ford then declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft after his sophomore season, hired an agent (Arn Tellem, SFX), and was selected eighth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks during the June 26 NBA Draft.

* The 4th Year of a rookie contract is a team option.

**After the final (fourth) year of his rookie contract, the player in question becomes a restricted free agent. Essentially, that means that the team that drafted the player has the right to match any offer given to that player by any other team, regardless of their salary-cap situation. However, if the fourth-year player wants to leave his current team without running the risk of the offer being matched by his original team (forcing him to remain there for the majority of his career), he can accept a one-year qualifying offer from the original team. This offer would force him to play with the original organization one more year, but then giving him the right to sign elsewhere the following offseason, without running the risk of having his contract offer matched. If the qualifying offer isn't extended after the fourth year, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent one year earlier.

Jordan Aibel is the senior scout and editor for NBADRAFTLOTTERY.COM.

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