RULES FOR COMP PICKS

This compensatory system has been in place since 1994, the year after unrestricted free agency was implemented.

The basic rules for comp picks are such:

**A team losing more or better qualifying free agents than it acquires in the previous year is eligible to receive extra draft picks.

**Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula that uses salary, playing time and postseason honors. Only unrestricted free agents whose contracts naturally expire or void (no team-forced voids) are eligible under the formula, and those who sign one-year deals for low minimums generally do not count.

**The comp signing period ends the Monday after the draft; any player signed after that does not count in the formula.

**A team receives picks that equal the net loss of compensatory free agents, with a maximum of four. The highest round in which a team can acquire a comp pick is the third (although a 10-year non-QB vet can net no more than a fifth).

**The league hands out 32 extra choices each year; if there are not 32 qualifying losses, the teams at the top of the draft receive the extra seventh-round picks until 32 choices have been allocated.

**Comp picks can be traded.

For the formula, check out Appendix V in the 2020 CBA.