"traded player exception" refers to the various methods used to trade players when a team is over the cap. There are several different aspects to the traded player exceptions. "trade exception" refers to the particular exception received when trading a player with no salary in return, i.e. Lin's 8.3 million. You can only use the trade exception + $100,000 to take on salary. These terms are commonly used interchangeably, which tends to cause some confusion.
