In addition to bringing Kyle Korver back to the team, the Utah Jazz bolstered their cache of trade exceptions with their big deal.
By flipping Alec Burks for Kyle Korver in their big trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Utah Jazz began to address their dire need for outside shooting. It’s not a cure-all, to be sure, but adding Korver, who ranks fourth all-time in 3-pointers made, will definitely help.
That’s not all the Jazz got in the deal, however. By taking back less salary than they sent out, the Jazz created a trade exception that can be used in future deal-making. GM Dennis Lindsey now has three such exceptions at his disposal.
Now, the Jazzland masses are a clever bunch, and we’ve talked about this before on The J-Notes, but for the NBA novices out there, here’s your crash course on trade exceptions. When team X makes a trade with team Y and sends out more salary than they take back, they receive a credit for the difference.
That credit can then be used for salary-matching purposes in a future trade until it expires, which is one year after the deal that created it was completed. This is no small thing, because over-the-cap teams can’t complete trades unless the financials match (roughly).
They’re given some wiggle room there, with different amounts set depending on the contract values in play and teams’ respective taxpayer status, but these exceptions essentially add to it.
At any rate, by sending out Burks’ contract, which pays him $11.5 million this season, and taking back Korver’s $7.5 million, they’ve created a $4-million exception that will be valid until November 29 of 2019.
The team’s other two exceptions were created at last year’s trade deadline with the Joe Johnson and Rodney Hood deals. The Johnson exception is valued at just over $3.7 million, while Hood’s comes in at $2.4 million.
Both exception expire on February 8 of ’19.
The rub with these exceptions is that they can’t be combined into one deal. So, for example, if you were looking for the Jazz to trade Derrick Favors and the three exceptions to the Washington Wizards for Bradley Beal at the deadline, you’re out of luck.
They can, however, use any one of the exceptions in a trade to bridge gaps in the dollar amounts. Or even use all three in three separate deals. I’d say the chances of that particular scenario are low, but Lindsey and Co. absolutely have some chips to play with if they’re looking to make further trades.
If you were looking for a reason to love the Korver-Burks trade, aside from what Korver brings to the hardwood, the creation of a third trade exception is definitely a good one