Report: Warriors shopping trade exceptions for bench help

The Golden State Warriors want to shore up their bench and they're getting creative in trying to do so.

According to a report from USA Today, the Warriors are hoping to use a bevy of trade exceptions at their disposal to facilitate a reserve acquisition. They have also explored adding a third team in some cases to help expand their possibilities.

It's an interesting strategy that requires some explanation.

Trade exceptions are created when salaries don't match in trades. The team taking back less money receives an exception for the difference in salaries, which they can use for up to a year to take back more salary in a subsequent trade.

Now, the Warriors would not technically "trade" said exceptions to another team for a player. Instead, they could use the exception to take additional salary back from another team, with that team then creating their own exception, which is then good for one year. In short, the Warriors can use these exceptions to take on additional salary in a deal, potentially enticing budget- or tax-conscious teams.

The Warriors are also approximately $2.4 million below the luxury tax line, so they're probably open to taking on up to that amount in extra salary.

While technically Golden State has four trade exceptions to work with, two are worth less than $800,000, rendering them fairly useless. They have a $4 million exception from a previous Brandon Rush trade, however, and an appreciable $9.8 million exception from the Richard Jefferson trade.

Have a useful bench player and want to shed some salary? Holler at the Warriors, who could seriously use the help.

[Dap: EOB]