a trade exception is essentially a filler or place holder you can use in a trade. Normally you trade a player for a player, but with an exception you can use that instead of sending back a player. It is created when a trade is made to a team who is under the cap. For instance suppose the Clippers are under the cap and we trade them Lowry and his six million dollar salary for nothing. A trade exception is created and we would get it. From there we would have one year to use it. We could trade that exception for another player on another team, without having to send anything in return. After it is used, it is gone.
Thanks larsv its hard to get my head around but i understand Put simply it's like the MLE but used when trading not signing?
