Editing Larry Bird (section)

====Joining the Celtics (1978–1979)====
Bird was selected by the [[1978–79 Boston Celtics season|Boston Celtics]] with the sixth overall pick in the [[1978 NBA draft]].<ref name="Larry Bird" /> He did not sign with the Celtics immediately; instead, Bird played out his final season at Indiana State and led the Sycamores to the NCAA title game. Celtics general manager [[Red Auerbach]] publicly stated that he would not pay Bird more than any Celtic on the current roster, but Bird's agent [[Bob Woolf]] told Auerbach that Bird would reject any sub-market offers and simply enter the [[1979 NBA draft|1979 draft]] instead, where Boston's rights would expire when the draft began on June 25, and Bird would have been the likely top pick. After protracted negotiations, he signed a five-year, $3.25 million contract with the team on June 8, making Bird the highest-paid rookie in sports history<!-- at the time-->.<ref name=clndbr>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dyxHAAAAIBAJ&pg=1610%2C1503176 |work = The Day |location = (New London, Connecticut) |agency = Associated Press |last = Braude |first = Dick |title = For $3.25 million, Celtics land Bird |date = June 8, 1979 |page = 33 |access-date = November 14, 2020 |archive-date = June 8, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210608095925/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dyxHAAAAIBAJ&pg=1610%2C1503176 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Larry Bird: Biography" /><ref name=big-three-57>{{cite book |last = May |first = Peter |title = The Big Three |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6owRYSf9llMC&pg=PA57 |access-date = March 21, 2013 |year = 2007 |orig-year = 1994 |publisher = Simon and Schuster |location = New York |isbn = 978-1-4165-5207-9 |page = 57 |oclc = 86221987 }}</ref> Shortly afterwards, NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign, a rule known as the Bird Collegiate Rule.<ref name=big-three-57 />