20. How do exceptions count against the cap? Does being under the cap always mean
that a team has room to sign free agents? Do teams ever lose their
exceptions?
If a team is below the cap, then their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and/or
Traded Player exceptions are added to their team salary, and the league treats the
team as though they are over the cap. This is to prevent a loophole, in a manner
similar to free agent amounts (see question numbers 29, 30, 31, 32). A team can't act
like they're under the cap and sign free agents using cap room, and then use their
Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and/or Traded Player
exceptions. Consequently, the exceptions are added to their team
salary (putting the team over the cap) if the team is under the cap and adding the
exceptions puts them over the cap. If a team is already over the cap, then the
exceptions are not added to their team salary. There would be no point in doing so,
since there is no cap room for signing free agents.
So it is not true that being under the cap necessarily means a team has room to sign free
agents. For example, assume the cap is $49.5 million, and a team has $43 million
committed to salaries. They also have a Mid-Level exception for $5 million and a
Traded Player exception for $5.5 million. Even though their salaries put them $6.5
million under the cap, their exceptions are added to their salaries, putting them
at $53.5 million, or $4 million over the cap. So they actually have no cap room to sign
free agents, and must instead use their exceptions.
Teams have the option of renouncing their exceptions in order to claim the cap
room. So in the example above, if the team renounced their Traded
Player and Mid-Level exceptions, then the $10.5 million is taken off their team
salary, which then totals $43 million, leaving them with $6.5 million of cap room
which can then be used to sign free agent(s).
http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#19
We renounced our exceptions in order to claim our cap room, which we then used to sign
Baron Davis and Marcus Camby.
I hope this helps.
Your right! I concede... 