salary cap question

[jayk009]

Let's say a team is under the cap going into the off-season, but then they sign a bunch of players and give one of their own players a raise who they have bird-rights to and somehow manage to be over the cap. Does this team then have access to the MLE to sign players?

[Lucky17]

Let's say a team is under the cap going into the off-season, but then they sign a bunch of players and give one of their own players a raise who they have bird-rights to and somehow manage to be over the cap. Does this team then have access to the MLE to sign players?

No. You either have the MLE, or cap space in excess of the MLE.

[rkls134]

Due to being under the cap when free agency began, they would lose their MLE.

[K.J.]

Due to being under the cap when free agency began, they would lose their MLE.

I have a clarification.

According to http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q20, ‘(f)or example, with a $49.5 million salary cap, assume it's the offseason, and a team has $41 million committed to salaries, along with a Mid-Level exception for $5 million, a Traded Player exception for $2.5 million, and an unrenounced free agent whose free agent amount is $2 million. Their salaries and exceptions total $50.5 million, or $1 million over the cap. What if their free agent signs with another team? The $2 million free agent amount comes off their cap, so their team salary drops to $48.5 million. This total is below the cap so the team loses its Mid-Level and Traded Player exceptions.;

So, even during the new season, a team could still lose its mid-level and biannual exceptions.