Evaluating post-trade salaries against the $140.6M Salary Cap, $170.8M Luxury Tax, $178.1M First Apron, and $188.9M Second Apron.
Under the current NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), teams operating over the salary cap cannot freely sign players from other teams without either matching outgoing and incoming salaries or absorbing the player into a pre-existing Traded Player Exception (TPE) or cap space.
When a team trades away a player making more than the player(s) received in return (or trades a player for a draft pick/cash), the team can declare the outgoing trade non-simultaneous. The salary difference creates a Traded Player Exception (TPE) valid for exactly one calendar year.
A TPE cannot be aggregated with another TPE or player salary to absorb a higher single contract. However, multiple smaller contracts can be absorbed into a larger single TPE up to its limit plus $250,000 (if non-taxpayer).
Teams above the First Apron ($178.1M) cannot take in more than 100% of outgoing salary. Teams above the Second Apron ($188.9M) cannot aggregate outgoing salaries, use pre-existing TPEs from prior years, or send cash in trades. Annual maximum cash sent is capped at ~$7.2M.
Charlotte created a $9.4M TPE by sending out Buddy Hield ($12.4M salary) while absorbing Rob Dillingham ($3.0M rookie scale), netting $9.4M in created exception capacity and dropping $3.0M from payroll, with Chicago sending cash to offset the cash commitment.