Quote:That rule does not make any sense. What purpose does it serve?

 

It makes plenty of sense when you take into consideration that the franchise tag grants the player the average of the top 5 salaries at his position for the year in which he is tagged and the transition tag only allows the player to test free agency and gives the original team the right to match any offer he receives.  A team would use the transition tag in a scenario where they were comfortable with what offers the player might get and that they would be significantly less than the top 5 players in the league at that position.

 

The reason why they both can't be used in the same year would likely have to do with the players not wanting to allow the teams to have even more power to hold players hostage and doing exactly what you're describing in your original post.  It would essentially be a 2nd franchise tag in a lot of scenarios but it would require the team to pay a lot less money.  Other teams may not be inclined to pursue a player on the transition tag knowing the original team would likely match the offer anyway.  

 

The players may not have gotten the best deal in the most recent CBA, but if somehow the league had negotiated the use of both tags at the same time the players' representatives would have likely found it difficult to find work again... ever.  The players ultimately want to be able to hit free agency as much as possible because that's where the big paydays come from, even if they end up re-signing with their original team.

 

The transition tag is only used in certain circumstances.  Players like Suh would never get transitioned because not only is he going to be top 5 at his position in salary, he's going to be the top paid at his position period.  Franchise tagging him would not only put Suh at financial risk if a severe injury occurred while he was tagged, but it would also likely mean a slightly lower annual salary than he might normally get under a normal contract.  The risk of injury makes the franchise tag very dangerous for him financially and players like him have every reason to be nervous about it and even a little resentful about it when a team uses it because teams can use it with no intent of signing the player long term but just as a means to get one more year out of them.

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