Portland Trail Blazers

Do the Portland Trail Blazers have the mid-level exception in 2027-28?

Season2026-272027-282028-29 2029-30 2030-31

Yes. The Trail Blazers can offer the full non-taxpayer mid-level: up to $16.1M starting salary for 2027-28 (projected).

Full (non-taxpayer) MLE

$16.1M

Taxpayer MLE

$6.5M

Room MLE

$10.0M

The full MLE runs up to 4 years and can be split among multiple players. It is the main way over-the-cap teams add outside free agents.

The catch: using it hard-caps the Trail Blazers at the first apron ($223.6M) for the rest of the season.

This is a forward look at 2027-28: it counts the contracts, options, and cap holds already on the Trail Blazers books for that season. Signings, trades, and option decisions between now and then will move these numbers.

The rule behind this

The mid-level exception (MLE) is the main tool over-the-cap teams use to sign outside free agents. The full ("non-taxpayer") MLE allows a contract starting around $14M for up to four years, and can be split among multiple players.

What is the mid-level exception (non-taxpayer)? →What is the hard cap? →What is the bi-annual exception? →