Here are the moves that a team whose salary is above the first tax apron – but below the second apron – is prohibited from making in 2024/25 and beyond:
- Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade.
- Using any portion of the bi-annual exception for any transaction.
- Using any portion of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to acquire a player via trade or waiver claim.
- Using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception to sign a player.
- Signing a player who was waived during the current season if his pre-waiver salary for that season exceeded the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Using one or more outgoing players in a trade for matching purposes to take back more than 100% of the outgoing salary.
- Using a traded player exception generated during the prior year (ie. between the end of the previous regular season and the end of the most recent regular season).
It’s worth clarifying a few points related to these restrictions.
A team operating above the first apron doesn’t have access to the bi-annual exception or non-taxpayer mid-level exception, both of which can be used to sign a player or to acquire a player via trade or waiver claim. First-apron teams can use the taxpayer mid-level exception, but it can
only be used to sign a player, not to acquire one via trade or waiver claim.
A team restricted to the taxpayer form of the mid-level can’t exceed its limits in dollars
or years. For instance, in 2024/25, the taxpayer mid-level exception can be used to sign a player to a deal with a starting salary of up to $5,168,000 for up to two years. That means a team using its mid-level exception to sign a player to a three-year contract worth $3MM annually would have to use the non-taxpayer MLE to do so, since the deal would only fit within the taxpayer MLE in terms of money, not years.
The fifth item in the list above is important to remember after the trade deadline when certain veterans negotiate contract buyouts. If the player’s salary exceeds the full value of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($12,822,000 in 2024/25), he would be ineligible to sign with a team operating above the first apron once he clears waivers and reaches free agency — even if he negotiates a buyout that reduces his salary to
below that non-taxpayer MLE amount.
The sixth item in the list only applies in instances where salary-matching is necessary. For example, a team operating above the first tax apron could send out a player earning $10MM in exchange for a player earning $9.5MM
and a second player on a one-year, minimum-salary contract — even though the club would technically be taking back more total salary than it’s sending out, the minimum-salary player can be acquired using the
minimum salary exception, so the $10MM player is only being used to match the $9.5MM player’s incoming salary.
In regard to the seventh item, let’s say a team operating above the first apron currently has one traded player exception worth $5MM, then generates another one worth $8MM at the 2025 trade deadline. Both of those exceptions would become unavailable once the team’s 2025 offseason begins.
That club could subsequently make a draft-night deal that generates a new $7MM trade exception and use it at any point between its creation and the end of the 2025/26 regular season. But if that team continues operating above the first apron, that $7MM TPE would once again become unavailable once the 2026 offseason begins, prior to its typical one-year expiration date.
source:
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/01/hoops-rumors-glossary-tax-aprons-2.html
