Boston Celtics: Pump the brakes on the hype for their huge trade exception

TPEs don’t often produce big trades

The previously mentioned confusion stems from the fact that these TPEs either very rarely end up panning out or, in most cases, do not even get used in the first place. As a matter of fact, since the NBA first administered trade exceptions, roughly only 25 percent of the 790 created trade exceptions have been put to use (via Bobby Marks, The Ryen Russillo Podcast).

On a smaller scale, 100 trade exceptions were created by NBA teams from 2018 to 2019. Of the 100 TPEs, 74 went completely unused (trade exceptions expire after one year). Of the 26 used TPEs, the most notable players acquired included Sam Dekker, Jonathon Simmons, and Marquese Chriss—the latter two are presently out of the league, and the former will find himself cemented deep on the Golden State Warriors’ bench during the coming season.

Yet despite having offered these invaluable droplets of information, I can still feasibly understand why we, as fans, put far too much value on trade exceptions. In the current case of the Boston Celtics, this hype becomes understandably multiplied. After all, in a league chock-full of $3-5 million TPEs that are typically not even worth the hassle of making a deal come to fruition based on the type of player the respective team would receive (i.e., the three players mentioned in the above paragraph), it is exceedingly rare to see a TPE of more than $25 million burning a hole in a team’s pocket.

Because of this significant amount of workable cap room, the Celtics can potentially obtain a very serviceable player from their colossal trade exception. Hell, a very recent maneuver by the Golden State Warriors echoes this exact possibility.

Just last week, the Warriors used their own trade exception—a $17 million variant from the Andre Iguodala-to-Memphis trade—to acquire Kelly Oubre Jr. from the OKC Thunder. Oubre was a vital member of last season’s Phoenix Suns who, throughout his NBA tenure, has displayed significant promise regarding his capabilities as a fully-functional role player. If the Celtics are to net a player of Oubre’s caliber, the hype behind the trade exception will have been understandable.