In a concession to the NBA Players' Association, the deadline for the "amnesty" clause, which will allow teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying further luxury tax on the player's contract, has been moved up to Aug. 15.

Teams such as the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks, who are expected to use the clause -- also known as the Allan Houston Rule -- to waive Michael Finley and Houston to avoid paying future luxury tax on their contracts, will have less than two weeks to make final decisions once the labor deal is implemented Tuesday.

The original deadline was Oct. 1. All 30 NBA teams will now have the right to make one amnesty waiver starting Tuesday at noon ET through Aug. 15. Teams are not required to use this clause and early estimates suggest that less than half of the league's clubs will exercise the option largely because the rule only provides luxury-tax relief, not salary-cap relief.

The Mavericks are trying to trade Finley to keep him out of the Western Conference and to avoid losing him without compensation. If they end up waiving him, a string of playoff contenders, including the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, are expected to pursue Finley.

The union argued that an Oct. 1 deadline gave the teams releasing players too much control over their players' futures. The Aug. 15 deadline is early enough to give Finley, Houston and anyone else released via the clause a chance to compete for free-agent dollars long before training camps open Oct. 3.