It has been reported in the Swift thread that we still have a 1.1 M trade exception and a 1.3 M trade exception. Though we had a larger one as well which expired. I don't remember who said it, but it's in there somewhere.
we used part of it in another trade(MJ?) I believe the rest of it expired as for the others, Ive lost track of which TE is which at this point.
The trade exception from the McGrady trade was for 5.48 million (1/2 of Steve Francis' salary). We used most of it in the Mike James trade, but had 2.5 mill or so left. That part of the trade exception expired. We do have a ~1.2 million dollar trade exception, also from the Mike James trade. We acquired James with our TMac trade exception and received Hamilton because he was a minimum salary player (or perhaps via TE also), thus we traded Gaines for "nothing". Trade exceptions are subject to +100K (but not +15% or 25%). The other trade exception was a result of the Mo Taylor trade - Baker and Moochie's salaries were about ~1 million less than Taylor's. Again, subject to +100K should be why you hear 1.1 million. Both of these exceptions carry through for one year, so around the time of next year's deadline, they will expire.
The 1.1M and 1.3M trade exceptions are almost worthless. I suppose they might be useful come trading deadline time if a team wants to pawn off a player on us so they can get farther under the cap, but really with those low numbers i just dont see them being very significant in helping us.
How much is the LLE exactly worth? Couldn't we send both of these TEs in exchange for Stoudamire (if he is willing to sign for 2.4M)?
They can't be combined, can't be used to sign free agents, and there is no 20% rule. Thus unless an acquired player salary fits under 1.3 mil it can't be used. Further, league minimum players (say a vet at 1.1 mil per year) can always be accepted between teams anyway, so you don't even need to use a TE to accept them. The only usefulness I can figure out with a 1.3 TE is just post-lottery draft pick who has proved worthless and with little hope. (e.g., Pass on someone like Gaines or perhaps a guy like Turiaf). With the new CBA contracts I think rookie have only two years guaranted (team option after 2nd year), so now this is an even more unlikely scenario. I'd say a very remote chance we use our TEs at their size (1.1, 1.3 mil) or that they are useful assets in any real way.
