Over the summer, the Boston Celtics have created a number of Traded Player Exceptions. What does that mean? How are they created and what are they used for?
A Traded Player Exception, more commonly referred to as a TPE, is created when a player is traded to another team for a lesser salary. For example, if Team A trades a player who is making $15M in the current year of their contract to Team B for a player who only makes $5M, then Team A would walk away with a $10M TPE at the end of the deal. That TPE would then be available for Team A to use for one full calendar year from the date the trade is completed. If they decided not to use it, then it would expire after that year has passed.
Boston made a big push to shed salary this offseason, and in doing so, they generated three TPEs. First, by trading Jrue Holiday for Anfernee Simons, they created a $4.7M TPE that will expire on July 7th, 2026. When they traded Kristaps Porzingis for Georges Niang, they generated a second sizeable TPE worth $22.5M which will also expire on July 7th 2026.
This week, they most flipped Niang to the Utah Jazz for RJ Luis Jr. who is on a two-way contract, meaning his salary does not go against the cap, and is effectively $0. As such, Boston generated a TPE matching the full amount of Niang’s contract, $8.2M. That exception will expire on August 6th, 2026.
The Celtics have one TPE leftover from last year as well, created in a trade that sent Jaden Springer to the Jazz. That TPE is worth $4M, and is set to expire on February 26th, 2026.
So, what can Boston do with these TPEs?
Well, TPE’s can be pretty valuable. They are essentially vouchers that allow a team to take on extra salary up to the point which the team was at before they traded the player who led to the creation of the exception. For example, if a team’s salary was at $190M and they traded a player who generated a $10M TPE, their salary would go down to $180M. They would then be allowed to use the TPE to take on additional players in subsequent moves until their total salary was back at $190M.
That doesn’t matter much for teams who are under the cap, but for teams in the first or second aprons, it can make a huge difference. There are some caveats, though.
TPE’s can only be used to acquire players via trade or via the waiver wire. They cannot be used to sign a free agent. Along with that, the existing contract has to fit into the TPE. For example, if a team has a $10M TPE, they can only trade for a player making $10M or less. TPE’s can not be combined either, so for example, the Celtics would NOT be able to combine the Jrue and Niang TPE’s to make a combined $12.9M TPE.
They also can’t combine the TPE with an outgoing player’s salary to make up the difference. For example, the team cannot combine a $10M TPE and a player making $5M to acquire a player making $15M.
TPE’s can be split up, however. For example, if they have a $20M TPE, they can use part of it to acquire a player who makes $15M, and be left with a $5M TPE. They can then acquire another player with the remaining $5M TPE so long as the original expiration date hasn’t passed.
Given that Boston is currently in the first apron, there are some further restrictions. For one thing, unless they get under the first apron, they are not allowed to use the Springer TPE since it was generated in the previous league year*. In the case that they do get under the first apron and decide to use it, they would get hard-capped at the first apron (though it’s highly unlikely that they would, given that it is the smallest of all their TPEs and has no real upside.)
*Quick note: League years are different from calendar years. They basically run from the day after the last game of the previous season’s Finals to the last day of the current season’s Finals.
Boston will presumably be trying to spend to bring in talent alongside Jayson Tatum’s return from injury after this season. Using a TPE as a first apron team would hard-cap them at the first apron, meaning that they would no longer be able to add any extra salary to their payroll.
If they do so in the current league year, it’s no big deal since they’re planning on staying under the second apron anyways. If they do it in the following league year, it will essentially stop them from making upward moves after that point, including signing players. One potential option would be to use one of the smaller TPEs this year, and use the Porzingis TPE next year before it expires to maximize their return, assuming they find suitable trade partners of course.
Since the Celtics are already a first apron team, they typically would not be allowed to take in more salary than they send out in a trade. The TPE’s act as a voucher that lets them subvert that rule by negating the incoming salary, though it still goes against the cap, and can only happen once per league year, meaning they would not be able to use multiple TPEs in a season.
If Boston decides to shed even more salary later down the line – which they very well may seeing as they’re currently just $1.7M over the first apron – they’d likely create another TPE to add to the arsenal.
This gives Brad Stevens some extra flexibility when it comes to building a contender. TPEs usually go unused, but given how essential it’s become to navigate the aprons of the new CBA, they can be a real asset going forward. We’ll have to wait to see how Boston decides to operate.
