Trades are typically completed all at once.  Such trades are dubbed
simultaneous trades.  However, teams actually have up to one year to acquire
the replacement player(s) to complete a trade.  These are considered
non-simultaneous trades.  In a non-simultaneous trade, a team can only
acquire up to 100% plus $100,000 of the salary it gives up (as opposed to
115% plus $100,000 in a simultaneous trade).  A trade in which more than one
player is traded away can only be simultaneous; non-simultaneous trades are
allowed only when a single player is traded away.


Here is an example of a non-simultaneous trade: a team trades away a $2
million player for a $1 million player.  Sometime in the next year, they
trade a draft pick (with zero trade value itself) for a $1.1 million player
to complete the earlier trade.  They ended up acquiring $2.1 million in
salary for their $2 million player -- they just didn't do it all at once, or
even necessarily with the same trading partner.


In the above example, after the initial trade of the $2 million player for
the $1 million player, it was like the team had a "credit" for one year, with
which they could aquire up to $1.1 million in salaries without having to send
out salaries to match.  This credit is often referred to as a traded player
exception or simply a trade exception , although the CBA doesn't actually use
either of these terms -- it is simply a component of the assigned player
exception.


There are some common misconceptions about this exception.  For one, teams
cannot use this exception to sign free agents; it can be used only to acquire
existing contracts from other teams.  For another, teams cannot combine this
exception with the 115% plus $100,000 margin from the assigned player
exception in order to trade for a more expensive player.  For example, while
a $2 million player can be traded for a $2.4 million player using the
assigned player exception, a team with a $1 million trade exception cannot
combine the two together and trade their $2 million player for a $3.4 million
player (see question number 71 for more information on combining exceptions).



Here is a more complicated example of a legal trade using the traded player
exception: A team has a $4 million trade exception from an earlier trade, and
a $10 million player it currently wants to trade.  Another team has three
players making $4 million, $5 million and $6 million, and the two teams want
to do a three-for-one trade with these players.  This is legal -- the $5
million and $6 million players together make less than the 115% plus $100,000
allowed for the $10 million player ($11,600,000), and the $4 million player
exactly fits within the $4 million trade exception.  So the $4 million player
actually completes the previous trade, leaving the two teams trading a $10
million player for a $5 million and a $6 million player.

Let's say a team trades a $6 million player for a $4 million player and a
minimum-salary player (assume he's a 10-year veteran making $1 million).  
They will use two exceptions for this trade -- the assigned player exception
for the $4 million player, and the minimum-salary exception for the
minimum-salary player.  Only the players traded using the assigned player
exception count toward the traded player exception, so a traded player
exception will be created for $6 million minus $4 million, or $2 million
(plus $100,000, for $2.1 million total).  The minimum-salary player doesn't
factor in at all.

Again, non-simultaneous trades are not available when a team trades away
multiple players (aggregates) using the assigned player exception.  Let's say
a team has a $4 million player and a $5 million player, and uses the assigned
player exception to trade for an $8 million player.  Even though they trade
away more salary ($9 million) than they receive ($8 million), the fact that
they aggregated the two players using the assigned player exception means
they do not gain a traded player exception.  It is sometimes possible to
reorganize trades so that players technically are not aggregated, and
therefore teams do gain a trade exception

Teams can consume only part of a traded player exception, in which case they
can still use the remainder in a future trade.  For example, if a team trades
a $4 million player for a $2 million player, they gain a $2.1 million trade
exception.  If they later trade a draft pick for a $1 million player, they
still have $1.1 million remaining to acquire more players and complete the
trade (until one year from the date of the original trade).


Also see question number 18 for more information on the availability and use
of this exception.
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