As reported by ESPN’s Bobby Marks for Sports Business Classroom, the Denver Nuggets utilized a portion of the traded player exception (TPE) they generated through the Michael Porter Jr. and Cameron Johnson trade to acquire Jonas Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings, whose salary is $10.4 million.
By structuring the deal this way, Denver also created a new traded player exception worth $5.4 million, which corresponds to the outgoing salary of Dario Saric.
Interestingly, the Nuggets could have structured the trade differently. Instead of using the Porter-related TPE, they had the option to use Saric’s outgoing salary to directly match Valanciunas’ incoming salary.
That approach would have been legally permissible under NBA trade rules.
However, doing so would have had significant financial implications – specifically, it would have hard-capped the team at the first tax apron, limiting their flexibility for the rest of the season.
To avoid triggering that restriction, Denver opted to use the traded player exception created from the Porter/Johnson trade.
Because that TPE was generated after the conclusion of the regular season, using it does not result in the team being hard-capped.
This strategic move allows the Nuggets to stay under the first apron and maintain more flexibility in their payroll moving forward.
Cap Notes: Bulls, Nuggets, Harden, Minott, MLEs https://t.co/keU7J2U2uN pic.twitter.com/xw2LyzxkCa
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) July 18, 2025
