What is a traded-player exception (TPE)?
When a team trades a player away without taking equal salary back, it can keep a credit — a TPE — good for one year, to absorb an incoming player without salary matching. The catch: a TPE from a past season can't be used if it would leave the team above the first apron, and using one hard-caps the team there (a TPE minted this offseason dodges that until next year). Your biggest usable TPE is applied automatically when a trade needs it.
2023 CBA · Art. VII §6(j)(1)(i); §2(e) row F
The biggest active TPEs
The first-apron catch
A pre-existing TPE (one created in an earlier transaction window) cannot be used if it would leave the team above the first apron — and using one hard-caps the team there for the season. A TPE created earlier in the same offseason is exempt from that particular trap.
When a trade needs one, your traded-player exceptions are there to absorb the incoming salary — with any apron cost shown on the receipt.
Common questions
How is a TPE created?
Trade a player away while taking back less salary than he makes and the difference becomes a credit — usable for up to a year to absorb an incoming player without salary matching.
Can TPEs be combined?
No. Each exception absorbs players one at a time up to its amount; you can't stack two TPEs on one incoming salary.
See it enforced, not just explained.
Build a trade or signing and the sim rules on it, with the relevant citation when one applies.