Cap/Trade questions

[bballee]

For Chris, or someone more knowledgeable than I, on traded-player exceptions and the cap.

One problem with acquiring Rudy Fernandez is the lack of matching salary.  By my calculations his $1,246,680 requires at least ($1,246,680/1.25)-100,000 = $897,344 to match.  That could be in the form of a traded player exception, but the Celtics have no such exception.  Both Dallas and Utah have multiple traded-player exceptions including one in the neighborhood of $1M which will expire within 6 months.  Can you trade a player for more than his actual salary in traded-player-exception money?  If so could we trade Lafayette and his $762,195 salary for an exception of $900K, and then use that exception to acquire Rudy?  Obviously we would have to compensate Dallas/Utah with cash or a pick but perhaps not too much since they have multiple exceptions and this one would be one of their smallest and due to expire in 6 months so perhaps not too valuable to them.  We would also have to compensate Portland for giving up Rudy but that part is a reasonable negotiation.  The general question is about traded player exceptions and whether using them in trades is limited to exactly matching the salary?

[Fan from VT]

I believe that an exception is acquired by trading a player to a team that can fully absorb that contract without going over the cap.

The team that trades the player to the under-the-cap team receives a trade exception for the exact dollar amount of the outgoing contract.

Furthermore, trade exceptions are NOT governed by the 125% + $100,000 rule; you are only allowed to use the trade exception + $100,000 to bring back a player. Additionally, a team with multiple exceptions cannot combine them.

However, as some extra info, you CAN use less than the trade exception amount and have some exception left over to use at a later time.


In your scenario, we'd need to trade Gaffney AND Lafayette to a team under the cap (and entice them with $$$ or picks), receive one exception for their compined salaries, then use that for Fernandez.

[Fan from VT]

However, if Portland really just wants a protected 1st or a second rounder, we really can just trade Gaffney&Lafayette plus the incentives (pick or $$$) for Fernandez and avoid the whole process of trying to acquire an exception.