Hoops Rumors Originals

The mid-level exception is the most common way for over-the-cap NBA teams to sign free agents from other clubs for more than the minimum salary. It ensures that each club heads into the offseason with a little spending flexibility, even if that team is deep into luxury tax territory.

Each team is eligible to use a specific type of mid-level exception depending on its proximity to the salary cap. The most lucrative kind of mid-level is available to teams that are over the cap but below the tax apron. Still, clubs deep into the tax, and even those under the cap, have access to lesser versions of the MLE. Here’s a glance at how all three forms of the exception are structured:

For over-the-cap teams:

• Commonly called either the full mid-level exception, the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception or simply the mid-level exception.
• Contract can cover up to four seasons.
• First-year salary is worth $8,641,000 in 2018/19.
  • Note: Projected first-year salary for 2019/20 is $9,246,000.
• Once used, the team cannot surpass the “tax apron” (approximately $6MM+ above tax line) for the remainder of the season.

For teams above the cap and the tax apron:

• Commonly called the taxpayer’s mid-level exception.
• Contract can cover up to three seasons.
• First-year salary is worth $5,337,000 in 2018/19.
  • Note: Projected first-year salary for 2019/20 is $5,711,000.

For teams with cap room:

• Commonly called the room exception.
• Contract can cover no more than two seasons.
• First-year salary is worth $4,449,000 in 2018/19.
  • Note: Projected first-year salary for 2019/20 is $4,760,000.

Each form of the mid-level allows for annual raises of up to 5% of the value of the first season’s salary. Last offseason, we broke down the maximum total salaries that players signed using the mid-level exception could earn. Those numbers can be found right here.

While teams can use their entire mid-level exception to sign one player, as the Grizzlies did this year with Kyle Anderson, clubs are also allowed to split the mid-level among multiple players, and that’s a common course of action. For instance, the Pistons have used their MLE to complete four separate signings, devoting parts of it to Glenn Robinson, Bruce Brown, Khyri Thomas, and Wayne Ellington.

Players drafted near the top of the second round often sign contracts for part of the mid-level because it allows teams to give them contracts for more years and more money than the minimum salary exception provides. For example, the Knicks used their mid-level to sign Mitchell Robinson to a four-year contract that starts at $1,485,440. Without the MLE, the Knicks would have been limited to a two-year deal for Robinson, and would have only had his Early Bird rights when his contract expires, rather than his full Bird rights.

Some front offices prefer to leave all or part of their mid-level exception unused in the offseason so it’s still available near the end of the regular season. At that point, a contender could use its MLE to try to sign an impact veteran on the buyout market, as the Pistons did with Ellington. A rebuilding club, on the other hand, could use its MLE to lock up an intriguing developmental player to a long-term contract, like the Timberwolves recently did with Cameron Reynolds.

Unlike the bi-annual exception, the mid-level exception can be used every season. So whether or not a team has used its mid-level in 2018/19, each club will have the opportunity to use some form of the MLE when the new league year begins on July 1, 2019.

Under the old Collective Bargaining Agreement, the mid-level exception increased annually at a modest, fixed rate, which limited its value as the salary cap spiked. However, under the new CBA, the mid-level will increase at the same rate as the salary cap, ensuring that its value relative to cap room remains about the same from year to year. Our estimates for 2019/20’s figures, based on the NBA’s current $109MM salary cap projection, can be found here.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.

Each year when July rolls around, a ton of NBA free agents sign new contracts and teams around the league consummate trades. However, on a few occasions, these two forms of transactions are combined into something called a sign-and-trade deal. Sign-and-trades occur when a team re-signs its own free agent, only to immediately send him to another team in exchange for players, draft picks, and/or cash.

In order for a sign-and-trade deal to be completed, the following criteria must be met:

• A free agent must be signed-and-traded by the team with whom he finished the season. For instance, the Sixers could sign-and-trade Jimmy Butler this offseason, but another team couldn’t sign Butler and immediately move him.
• If the free agent is restricted, he can’t be signed-and-traded after he signs an offer sheet with a rival team.
• A team acquiring a player via sign-and-trade cannot be over the tax apron after the deal, and can’t have used the taxpayer mid-level exception.
• A free agent can’t be signed-and-traded once the regular season is underway.
• A free agent can’t be signed using the mid-level exception or any exception that doesn’t allow for a three-year contract.
• A player receiving a Designated Veteran contract can’t be signed-and-traded.

Sign-and-trade contracts can be worth any amount up to the player’s maximum salary (with 5% annual raises), and must be for either three or four years. However, only the first year of the deal has to be fully guaranteed.

If a sign-and-trade contract includes a signing bonus, either team can agree to pay it, though if the signing team pays it, it counts toward that club’s limit for cash included in trades for that league year. As for trade bonuses, they would kick in upon any subsequent trades rather than as part of the sign-and-trade transaction itself.

Under some previous Collective Bargaining Agreements, there was more incentive for players to work out sign-and-trade deals, since the contract restrictions weren’t as strict. For example, when Kevin Durant hits free agency this summer, he’d be eligible for a five-year contract worth up to a projected $221.27MM if he re-signs with the Warriors, but only four years and approximately $164MM with another team.

Prior to 2011’s CBA agreement, Durant could have received that five-year deal if Golden State had signed-and-traded him. But if the Dubs sign-and-trade KD this summer, he’d only be eligible for that four-year, $164MM max.

Under the current CBA, there’s less incentive for teams and players to participate in sign-and-trades. Generally, if a player wants to change teams, it makes more sense for him to sign with the new team outright, rather than making that club give up assets to complete the acquisition. Even the player’s old team may prefer to simply let the free agent walk and claim the resulting cap space, rather than taking back unwanted assets in a sign-and-trade.

There are other roadblocks as well. A team acquiring a player via sign-and-trade subsequently becomes hard-capped for the rest of that league year. Plus, a signed-and-traded player’s salary may be viewed differently than it would be in a standard trade for salary-matching purposes, which can compromise a team’s ability to meet those salary-matching requirements.

If a potential suitor is over the cap and under the tax, and wants to sign a player for more than the mid-level amount, then a sign-and-trade could make sense, particularly if that team can offer the free agent’s prior team something of value. But these transactions are becoming less frequent than they once were.

Since the summer of 2015, only four players have been involved in sign-and-trade deals: Kyle O’Quinn (2015), Troy Daniels (2016), Matthew Dellavedova (2016), and Danilo Gallinari (2017). No sign-and-trades were completed during the 2018/19 league year.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

An earlier version of this post was published in 2013 by Luke Adams.