Of course he does. Boston now has his Birds rights.
But would you? And I'm sorry, I'm a little confused when it comes to Birds rights, but I thought it was a certain few years the team can retain the player even beyond the salary cap for a player they drafted? How can we have his Bird rights if hes been traded 4-5 times?
Your Bird rights transfer when traded. They basically reset every time you sign with a new team as a free agent or if you pass through waivers.
Correct. And since Boston has Bird rights, it's very possible that the most money he can get from any team this offseason is Boston. Certainly he needs another free agent suitor to think he'd be willing to stay in Boston, so that they are seen as a viable competitive bidder.
Of course, he may end up liking it here, and certainly he'd been struggling in Memphis. But it's pretty foolish for any player in a walk year who might not be in the highest of demand to talk about not wanting to stay. If you're a superstar max-player type, that's one thing. But if you're Bayless, you say nice things.