The mid-level exception – which is available to over-the-cap teams whose salaries are below the second tax apron – and the room exception – available to teams that operated under the cap and used up their cap space – are typically viewed as tools to upgrade a roster during the offseason. And for many clubs in 2023, that was indeed the case.
The Knicks used most of their mid-level exception on Donte DiVincenzo. The Cavaliers used a chunk of theirs to sign Georges Niang. The Nuggets used their full taxpayer mid-level on Reggie Jackson. Gabe Vincent (Lakers) and Dennis Schröder (Raptors) were among the other players to get significant MLE money, while the Kings (Sasha Vezenkov) and Thunder (Vasilije Micic) used their room exceptions to add draft-and-stash prospects.
In total, 11 players were signed using the mid-level exception before the 2023/24 season began and two more were added using the room exception.
However, as our tracker shows, both of those numbers have more than doubled since the season got underway. A total of 12 MLE signings have been finalized since opening night, along with four more signings using the room exception.
In many cases, the players signed using these exceptions were on two-way contracts and were being promoted to a team’s standard roster. Those players were often in their first or second NBA season, so their teams wanted to lock them up to longer-term deals.
The mid-level exception accommodates that — it can be used to sign players for up to four seasons. The room exception also helps in that regard, since it can now be used to sign players for up to three seasons instead of just two. The minimum salary exception, conversely, only allows for deals up to two years.
In other cases, the mid-level or room exception comes in handy because it allows a team to offer more money than the minimum salary exception allows for. For example, when they signed Kyle Lowry on the buyout market, the Sixers were able to use their MLE to give him a rest-of-season salary of $2,795,839. A prorated minimum-salary deal would’ve paid him just $1,138,964.
Sometimes, the fact that the mid-level and room exception allow for more years and more money than the minimum salary exception is crucial. Offering a player a higher salary in year one might be the incentive needed to get him to agree to a longer-term contract that keeps him under team control at an affordable rate in future seasons.
Here’s the full list of players who have been signed using teams’ mid-level or room exceptions since opening night, along with the length of their contract and their starting salary:
Mid-level exception signings:
- Memphis Grizzlies: Bismack Biyombo (one year; $5,000,000)
- Philadelphia Sixers: Kyle Lowry (one year; $2,795,839)
- Washington Wizards: Tristan Vukcevic (two years; $2,424,892)
- Memphis Grizzlies: Vince Williams (four years; $2,232,308)
- Memphis Grizzlies: GG Jackson (four years; $1,991,428)
- Portland Trail Blazers: Duop Reath (three years; $1,951,220)
- Los Angeles Lakers: Spencer Dinwiddie (one year; $1,554,655)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Craig Porter Jr. (four years; $1,500,000)
- Dallas Mavericks: A.J. Lawson (four years; $1,000,000)
- Washington Wizards: Eugene Omoruyi (two years; $900,000)
- Brooklyn Nets: Jalen Wilson (three years; $850,000)
- Chicago Bulls: Onuralp Bitim (three years, $500,000)
Room exception signings:
- Indiana Pacers: Kendall Brown (three years; $1,100,000)
- Sacramento Kings: Keon Ellis (three years; $683,430)
- Utah Jazz: Darius Bazley (three years; $500,000)
- Utah Jazz: Kenneth Lofton Jr. (three years; $500,000)