Last Updated on October 13, 2025 7:04 pm by Keston Paul | Published: October 13, 2025

This edition of the NBA season has no shortage of players looking to prove themselves in one of the most key moments of their career. The famous ”contract year,” the situation where players find themselves one step away from hitting free agency and need their value to go as high as it possibly can in order to achieve the highest payday of their life, or the longest contract they can get their hands on.

While the contract year is just a name to label the phenomenon where a player performs to a high level when seeking a big contract, a lot of fantasy managers like to take advantage of this situation expecting this rise in their play level to translate to their fantasy teams as well.

In this article we’ll break down those players who are headed for unrestricted free agency and have a chance to achieve this contract-year status while also describing their current situation and their fantasy outlook, but before we do, we need a quick little primer on Bird Rights.

Bird Rights, named after Larry Bird, allows teams to go over the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents. Those rights are gained when a player plays three seasons for one team. A player’s Bird Rights are lost when a player changes teams via free agency, is waived and unclaimed (aside from the rare situation in which he re-signs with the team that waived him and played three seasons) or has his rights renounced by his team. That means that Bird Rights are retained even if a player is traded. A player with Bird Rights can sign a five-year deal up to the max with his current squad, regardless of what the team’s salary cap situation is.

Early Bird Rights are a lot like regular Bird Rights, only the time frame is condensed to two seasons instead of three. Pretty much all of the same rules apply, with the main difference being the type of contract that Early Bird players can get for their next deal (a two-year minimum with a four-year max, and a maxed out at 175% of a player’s previous salary or 105% of the league average salary, whichever is greater). Luckily there are no Early Bird Rights players who were lining themselves up for a max contract.

No Bird Rights

Luke Kennard, ATL

We start the list with the 29-year-old sharpshooter who was let go by the Memphis Grizzlies during the offseason, giving him the opportunity to choose his next team, in which the Atlanta Hawks won the bidding contest with a one year, $11 million pact. Kennard will be a key player off the bench for the Hawks and he’ll receive plenty of opportunities to earn a solid contract extension or a new multi-year deal in next season’s free agency, if he can capitalize on his shooting and playmaking skills in Atlanta.

Fantasy-wise, Kennard is only a deep-league option and has a tough uphill road ahead to become a 12-team must-roster player in most formats.

Tyus Jones, ORL

Who are the other Contract-Year UFAs motivated to earn their next deal? You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! Premium Access Required  

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Pedro Oliveira

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