RealGM

To settle a discussion in a Trade/Transaction Board game:

Can a team that started the offseason with cap space, signed no free agents, but rather used the cap space to TRADE for other players and now sits above the salary cap, still use the mid-level exception?

No, in regards to the full MLE. Working by using "cap room" or working using the exceptions awarded for NOT having cap room (such as the full MLE) are essentially an either-or choice.That's the simple answer, and others may choose to go into the more detailed explanation of why it works like that.

But those having and using cap room do get a Room MLE, which is half-ish of the normal MLE.

DBoys wrote:No, in regards to the full MLE. Working by using "cap room" or working using the exceptions awarded for NOT having cap room (such as the full MLE) are essentially an either-or choice.That's the simple answer, and others may choose to go into the more detailed explanation of why it works like that.

But those having and using cap room do get a Room MLE, which is half-ish of the normal MLE.

Gotcha.

But now that I've "used" the cap room in trades, and am now over the cap, do I get the room exception still?

Yes. By definition, "exceptions" to the cap limit are only needed (and used) once you are working to do something over the cap.

With the Salary Cap being higher than expected, will the MLE become slightly higher than this year?

IrishBeatdown wrote:With the Salary Cap being higher than expected, will the MLE become slightly higher than this year?

Under the most recent CBA, the MLE is no longer tied to the salary cap. The amounts for each year's three MLEs were negotiated in the CBA. Next season the first year of the Non-Taxpayer MLE will be $5.305M and the first year of the Taxpayer MLE will be $3.278M.

You can read about this here:
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q25