A total of 13 traded player exceptions created during the 2021 NBA offseason are set to expire this month if they go unused.
A trade exception is an NBA salary cap exception that can be generated when a team trades a player away. It allows that team to acquire a certain amount of salary without sending out any in return for one year after the exception was created. The club is permitted to trade for a player earning the amount of the exception, plus $100K.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Traded Player Exception]
For instance, the Trail Blazers are set to use their $20,864,198 trade exception, created in February’s CJ McCollum trade, to acquire Jerami Grant, who is earning $20,955,000 in 2022/23. Grant narrowly fits into that TPE after accounting for the $100K in wiggle room.
Most trade exceptions expire without being used, but teams can sometimes find a use for them — especially the bigger ones like Portland’s. So it’s worth keeping tabs on which ones are still available.
Here are the 13 exceptions set to expire this month:
- Boston Celtics: $17,142,857 (expires 7/18)
- Los Angeles Clippers: $8,250,000 (expires 7/18)
- Indiana Pacers: $7,333,333 (expires 7/7)
- New Orleans Pelicans: $6,382,262 (expires 7/7)
- Chicago Bulls: $5,000,000 (expires 7/7)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $4,054,695 (expires 7/7)
- Brooklyn Nets: $3,246,530 (expires 7/6)
- Toronto Raptors: $3,070,052 (expires 7/6)
- Atlanta Hawks: $1,782,621 (expires 7/7)
- Golden State Warriors: $1,782,621 (expires 7/7)
- Milwaukee Bucks: $1,517,981 (expires 7/7)
- Boston Celtics: $1,440,549 (expires 7/7)
- Brooklyn Nets: $118,342 (expires 7/6)
The Celtics’ $17MM exception, created in last year’s Evan Fournier sign-and-trade, is the most noteworthy one here, but it appears unlikely to be used. Boston reached a deal last week to acquire Malcolm Brogdon without having to use the exception, and now appears to be a long shot to strike another major trade agreement.
The third exception on this list, the Pacers’ $7.3MM TPE, will disappear if Indiana decides to operate under the cap. The team would have to renounce the exception in order to actually make use of its cap room.
While it’s possible some of the other exceptions on this list will be used before they expire, they won’t accommodate any of the deals that have been agreed upon to date.
The full list of outstanding trade exceptions can be found right here.
nice work Mr Adams, as usual
I hopped the c’s would have used theirs for a backup big
They are already set to pay the the tax. Maybe Wyc will change his mind to pay more tax. But he has gone higher than ever now. We shall see if he changes his mind. The question on using it is who do we get with it. I don’t see anyone that a team is willing to give up. Maybe OKC they have a numbers crunch.
I could see Detroit moving Olynyk, Joseph, and or Noel if they were planning to make a play at signing Ayton all of a sudden. I know those 3 wouldn’t fit under Boston’s trade exception but olynyk would be a big that provides outside shooting and has been rumored to be on his way out. Plus his contract is only guaranteed for $3 million next year.
I expect the LAC to use theirs. BOS, not sure, but it’s large enough that they may look for ways to roll at least a part of it over.
Can they use TPE on a sign and trade?
For example, if Boston wants Bryant, can Washington sign him for 3/30 and Boston use the TPE and send them 2nd as a sweetener?
Trade exceptions can be used for sign-and-trades, but Boston in particular probably won’t be able to go that route. Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade creates a hard cap at the tax apron, which the Celtics project to be way above.
Thank you for explaining :)
Does a player’s contract have to fit firmly within the TPE + $100K or can it cover the difference between two players in a trade? If it can’t, the one the Nets have expiring on 7/6 for $118K is completely useless. I don’t think it could even be used on a partial guarantee for a minimum salary rookie contract.
Probably get the Thunder’s top water boy and a towel to be named later
Yeah that one’s pretty useless.
Yeah and I’m positive TPEs can’t be combined. The only use it would have would be if it could be used together with the other one expiring the same day. For example, let’s say the Nets wanted to pick up Boban. He couldn’t be traded with other players until late August, but if the TPEs could be used together along with the $100K leeway on each, it could be done for their stash, Milutinov.
They can’t be combined, no.
There are scenarios, I think, where small TPEs could be used prior to June 30 to acquire guys who signed prorated multiyear minimum-salary deals late in the season, but those situations are extremely rare and are complicated by the fact that those players can’t be traded for three months.
Celts Brad Stevens said a couple weeks back their big Fournier TPE would likely disappear. What, or who, could change his, or the owners who pay the bills, mind? Stevens & Coach Udoka have to find some gold somewhere else.
Go Celtics!