New York Knicks free agent guard Jeremy Lin will be able to retain his early Bird rights as an arbitrator had ruled earlier this offseason, according to a report (via Howard Beck's Twitter).
Due to a settlement between the NBA and the players' union, Bird rights will be retained by players who are claimed off waivers as if they were traded. However, full Bird rights will only be retained if players are claimed via the amnesty rule. The settlement also applies in the case of Knicks forward Steve Novak. Both players can now be re-signed by the Knicks without using the team's mid-level exception. Instead, the team can actually go above the salary cap to re-sign Lin and Novak for up to 104.5 percent over the league's average salary (about $5.5 million) (via NJ.com)
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