Charlotte's Secret In-Season Trade Chip

Expect the Hornets to remain active on the trade market this season

VP of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson /

Charlotte's new regime has been active on the trade market since taking over, making five trades in the past five months. With the team continuing to prioritise future draft compensation and taking a patient approach, expect more moves in the coming season. Peterson still has one major trade chip up his sleeve which very few people know about, the "Room Exception".

The Hornets became a cap space team this past summer to absorb Jackson and Green's contracts. This meant they lost access to the full mid-level exception ($12.4M) for signing players. Instead, they now have the Room Exception ($7.9M) available for the rest of this season. Under the previous CBA, this could only be used to sign free agents. However, the new CBA allows the Room Exception to be used like a trade exception to absorb a salary.

Spending power each NBA functionally has left (room under hard-caps or hard-caps that could be incurred factored in):

ATL: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
BOS: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
BKN: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
CHA: $7.9M Room Exception
CHI: $4.7M Bi-Annual Exception
CLE: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
DAL:…

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 11, 2024

Peterson has already demonstrated his willingness to take on negative salaries in exchange for draft compensation, as seen in the Reggie Jackson and Davis Bertans trades. If the Hornets want to continue this strategy, they could use the Room Exception to absorb a player earning up to $7.7 million. With several teams nearing the luxury tax or the first and second apron, there will be plenty of sellers at the trade deadline.

To execute a trade where they absorb a salary into the room exception, the Hornets would have to have an open roster spot. This means the Hornets might keep their final roster spot open or make a separate mid-season move, such as waiving Taj Gibson.

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