| 21 February 2011
Jeff Kramer will join Beyond the Beat this month for a closer look at trade rumors surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers, and the lastest with the ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement discussions with the NBA lockout looming. You can also read more from Jeff Kramer at his own site, Storyteller Contracts.
It's the final week before the NBA trade deadline hits on Thursday, and there has been a tremendous amount of speculation as to which trade assets might be involved in a deal involving the Blazers. One doesn’t have to look all that hard to find proposed scenarios involving Joel Przybilla, Andre Miller, Marcus Camby or one of the draft picks that Portland holds right now.
But one of the trade assets Portland holds, however, doesn’t seem to be getting much attention.
That is the trade exception that Portland generated when they traded Jerryd Bayless to New Orleans back on October 23rd - with Bayless since being dealt to Toronto. Under the trade rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, because Portland didn’t receive any salaried players in return for Bayless (just a conditional 1st round pick), the Blazers have a ‘credit’ that allows them to take back up to $2.39 million in salary in trade without having to send out any salaried players themselves.
This credit can be used anytime before October 23rd, 2011.
This trade exception gives the franchise some flexibility to make a trade without having to rid themselves of any salaried players. For example, Portland could trade for Anthony Randolph of the Knicks and only have to send back a draft pick, since Randolph’s $1.97 million contract is less than the amount of the trade exception. Or they could similarly send a draft pick to another team looking to shed some salary by receiving any player (or combination of players) making less than $2.39 million.
It should be mentioned the hardship exception Portland received, allowing them to temporarily have 16 players on their roster, will soon expire with the return of Brandon Roy and Camby. So if the team chooses to use this trade exception, they would have to release (or trade) at least one current player to create a roster spot for the incoming player(s).
Still, holding this exception gives the front office one more option for making a potential deal between now and Thursday.
Other Trade Deadline News from Beyond the Beat:
Spears: Cavs Like Miller, Fernandez Still Part Of Talks With New Jersey Nets
Teams Interested In Dante Cunningham, Ready To Ditch The Mask
Source: Morrow Could Make Or Break Miller-Harris Trade Talks
photo: daylife
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