NBA mid-level exception: 2026-27 amounts and how each version works

The three announced amounts for 2026-27

These are the NBA’s full announced first-year limits. A team’s remaining usable amount can be lower because of previous use, apron restrictions or the CBA’s proration rules. Salary and Unlikely Bonuses count toward the applicable exception limit.

Amounts: NBA sets salary cap for 2026-27 season at $164.961 million. Contract terms: Article VII §6(e), printed page 236; §6(f), page 237; §6(g), page 239.

The name alone does not tell you which exception a team can use

Non-taxpayer MLE: using it to sign or acquire a player ordinarily requires Apron Team Salary to remain at or below the first apron immediately afterward and for the rest of that salary-cap year. The operative limit is the apron, not merely whether a payroll estimate exceeds the luxury-tax line. Article VII §2(e)(2), printed page 187; transaction-table row B, page 190.

Taxpayer MLE: the CBA requires post-use Apron Team Salary to exceed the first apron. Its use also triggers a second-apron ceiling for the remainder of the salary-cap year. A team above the second apron cannot simply sign a player with this exception while remaining above that line. §6(f)(1), printed page 237; transaction-table row K, page 191.

Room MLE: this is the separate path for a team whose cap-room position has removed its entitlement to the other named exceptions and which has not already used the bi-annual, non-taxpayer or taxpayer exception that cap year. Merely subtracting payroll from the salary cap is not enough: cap holds and unused exceptions can affect the calculation. §6(g)(1), printed pages 238–239; §6(n)(1)–(2), page 248.

A smaller non-taxpayer signing can sometimes be reclassified

The CBA permits a limited switch to taxpayer treatment when the team used its non-taxpayer MLE only for new signings, signed no contract longer than two seasons, stayed within the taxpayer amount in aggregate, and otherwise qualifies to make a transaction taking it above the first apron. The switch extinguishes the team’s remaining non-taxpayer MLE. It is a conditional reclassification, not permission to spend both full exceptions. Article VII §6(f)(5), printed page 238.

Using the room exception blocks later use of the non-taxpayer, taxpayer and bi-annual exceptions that cap year. The agreement separately preserves a specific non-taxpayer matching provision for an offer sheet to a veteran with one or two Years of Service under Article XI §5(d). That narrow rule does not give every room team a second full MLE. §6(g)(3), printed page 239; §6(e)(5), page 237. See qualifying offers and matching.

Splitting the exception and paying later contract years

Each version can cover one or more players. The first-year salaries and Unlikely Bonuses must fit within the aggregate exception allowance; it is not a fresh full allowance for each player. Future years of a permitted contract are governed by its term and raise rules rather than being added to that first-year total. §6(e)(1)–(4); §6(f)(1)–(3); §6(g)(1)–(4).

Annual salary increases or decreases under these exceptions are limited to 5% of the first-year salary, with corresponding rules for bonus amounts. The increase is based on the first year, rather than compounding 5% on each new year’s salary. Article VII §5(a)(1), printed page 226.

Trade uses, proration and expiration

Beginning with the 2024–25 salary-cap year, the non-taxpayer and room exceptions can also acquire existing player contracts by assignment. Their remaining contract terms cannot exceed four and three seasons respectively. The taxpayer MLE authorizes signings, not this assignment use. Article VII §6(e)(1)–(2), printed page 236; §6(g)(1)–(2), page 239. A traded-player exception is a different mechanism.

Unused MLE amounts do not roll over. Each version expires at the start of the team’s last regular-season game in that salary-cap year. A contract already signed can continue into its permitted later seasons; expiration of unused signing capacity does not end that contract. §6(e)(6), printed page 237; §6(f)(4), page 238; §6(g)(5), page 239.

The January 10 rule has important exceptions. Section 6(n)(4) provides for daily reduction using the unused exception amount as of January 10 and the total days in that regular season. It expressly says that reduction does not apply when the exception is used from January 10 through the trade deadline, or to match an offer sheet. Applying a simple January 10 reduction to every signing would therefore be wrong. Article VII §6(n)(4), printed page 249.