Lopez Contract Has Trade Kicker

Brook Lopez's new contract has a 15% trade kicker if he's traded in the first three years of his four-year deal, according to league sources. Under the terms of the trade kicker, the team trading a player would have to pay him an bonus equal to 15% of what he's owed over the course of the contract, his "remaining salary."

Lopez signed a four-year, $60.8 contract two weeks ago. The final year of the contract is a player option at $16.7 million. The trade kicker covers only the first three years salary. (Generally, salary owed to players in option years is not included in the definition of "remaining salary.) Few players have such kickers. Deron Williams has a 15% trade kicker as well.

Because Lopez has a max contract like Williams, he can't make any more than the max salary. The kicker would seem to complicate trade scenarios involving Lopez. As Mark Deeks explains in ShamSports, a trade kicker "can only be bothersome to teams and emphatically benefit a player." And the question remains, why did Lopez want the kicker inserted?