The Mid-Level Exception is a resource that teams over the salary cap have to add additional talent. The standard MLE allows for contracts of up to four years with raises of 5%.
If a franchise is currently a taxpayer or projects to be over the luxury tax line at any point during the season, they only have access to the taxpayer’s mid-level exception. This version of the MLE comes with 5% raises but has a much smaller starting salary and can only be used to offer players at most three-year deals.
| Year | Non-Taxpayer MLE | Taxpayer MLE |
| 2019-20 | $9,258,000 | $5,718,000 |
| 2020-21 | $9,720,900 | $6,003,900 |
| 2021-22 | $10,183,800 | $6,289,800 |
| 2022-23 | $10,646,700 | |
| Total | $39,809,400 | $18,011,700 |
Let’s take a look at how teams have used the mid-level exception this offseason. This post will be updated as franchises make additional moves.
(Note: Teams have the ability to split up their MLE on several players as the Raptors did recently).
| Team | Player | Years | Total | Status |
| DET | Derrick Rose | 2 | $15.0M | Non |
| HOU | Danuel House | 3 | $11.1M | Tax |
| Tyson Chandler | 1 | Tax | ||
| MEM | Tyus Jones | 3 | $26.5M | Non |
| MIA | KZ Okpala | 3 | $4.2M | Non |
| ORL | Al-Farouq Aminu | 3 | $29.1M | Non |
| POR | Rodney Hood | 2 | $11.7M | Tax |
| SAS | Trey Lyles* | $11.0 | Non | |
| TOR | Patrick McCaw | 2 | $8.0M | Non |
| Stanley Johnson | 2 | $7.4M | Non | |
| Matt Thomas | 3 | $4.2M | Non | |
| WAS | Ish Smith | 2 | $12.0M | Non |
Non = Non-Taxpayers’ MLE
Tax = Taxpayers’ MLE
*Originally committed to Marcus Morris.
