A team gets a player’s full Bird Rights if they spend three years with their team without leaving in free agency. It doesn’t have to be on a three-year deal. This applies to players on a three-year deal, players on a two-year deal followed by a one-year deal or players on three consecutive one-year deals.

Bird rights are a valuable tool for NBA teams to use to retain their own players, and all franchises have used them multiple times to their advantage. These rights are a crucial component of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, and they provide teams with a significant edge in retaining their own players if they ever hit free agency.

To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. However, a player can obtain "Bird rights" by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination thereof.

In order for a team to own a player’s Bird rights, that player must play three seasons for them without clearing waivers or changing clubs as a free agent. It doesn’t matter if a player signed a three-year deal or three separate one-year deals — as long as they remain with the team for three seasons, they will retain their Bird rights.

The Bird exception, named after Larry Bird, is a rule included in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement that allows teams to go over the salary cap to re-sign their own players. A player who qualifies for the Bird exception, formally referred to as a Qualifying Veteran Free Agent, is said to have “Bird rights.”