Transfers, Contracts & Roster Rules

How the player market operates, the difference between domestic and foreign talent, and how to negotiate contracts.

Player Origins & Foreigner Limits

European basketball prohibits assembling lineups purely of cheap foreign players. Every league enforces strict personnel quotas:

Domestic Players
Citizens of the club's own country — only they count as "domestic". Essential for quotas: every league mandates a minimum number of locals on the roster.
Who counts as a foreigner
The market is browsed in two categories (domestic / foreigners). Any player born in another country counts as a foreigner — even one from the EU. There is no “Bosman” exemption.
Foreigner Quota
Your roster shows foreigners as “X/Y” (the cap is set by your league). Once the cap is hit, offers are blocked. Before signing several foreigners in a row, count your locals and foreigners first.

Transfer Windows & Release Clauses

  • Free Agents (FA): Players without clubs. No acquisition fee is needed; only negotiate seasonal wages.
  • Release Clauses (Buyouts): Under-contract athletes can be bought out from the selling club — paying the release clause forces the sale. But the deal only closes if the player accepts your new contract offer (wage, length); he can still refuse.
  • Transfer Deadline: The inter-club market (Transfer List) stays open through the regular season (until D44) and closes for the playoffs and offseason (D45–68). Free agents and academy call-ups remain available all season.

The minimum tier (MIN 1Y)

The cheapest free agents carry a “MIN 1Y” badge — they accept a simple package: one year at the league minimum, with an open symbolic buyout and the right to leave for the NBA mid-season.

  • The exact package is always accepted. A “wants longer” note is only advice to negotiate normally, never a rejection.
  • Any change (longer term, higher wage, locked buyout, no NBA exit) sends you back to normal negotiations.
  • The GM trade-off: a cheap way to plug roster holes, but easy to lose — the symbolic buyout lets any club take him. The “At minimum” filter shows exactly this tier.

In-season free agency: the price falls until someone signs

As the season runs, free agents ask for less — by the playoffs a good player nobody could afford becomes progressively cheaper. The same rules apply to you and to computer clubs: the biggest offer wins.

  • The strongest clubs usually take the top of the market — they can simply offer more. A European club competes only when it can outbid them.
  • The trade-off: waiting makes him cheaper, but he is not reserved — while you wait, another club can sign him.
  • A one-season deal signed on these falling terms cannot be extended — even with better conditions. When the season ends, the player returns to the market.

Negotiations: Patience, Morale & Loyalty

Contract negotiations are never guaranteed. Athletes weigh three critical factors before signing:

Loyalty
Loyal players often accept team-friendly discounts to stay with their franchise.
Morale & Role
Disgruntled bench warmers will refuse extensions and test the summer market.
Agent Patience
Attempts are limited: two failed offers to the same player per season close the talks, and a deeply unhappy player will not discuss an extension at all.

The dominant lever is money: an offer that meets the player’s demands is always accepted, one that falls short is always refused. The meter shows how the offer matches expectations, not a success chance: role, prestige and contract terms shift how much he demands.

Why a player underperforms: morale

Morale reflects how happy a player is with his situation at the club. It falls when the wage is clearly below the market level for players in the same role, and recovers once the terms are fixed. Morale changes match form: the OVR in your squad list does not move, but on the court the player may look weaker. At very low morale he may stop training and playing altogether.

  • What helps: renegotiating the wage (the main lever), replying to his public post, changing the coach (a one-off squad morale boost).
  • Where to look: the player profile shows morale with the wage, fair wage and the match effect; the squad list shows the number next to OVR. Exact coefficients and formulas are not published.