And its not what you think. It will be a while before we really see if the Magic received the best package for Dwight Howard. But after reading the hoopsworld article on how Hennigan created a $17 million Traded Player Exception, I wanted to find out how other teams used it.

Best example I found was Sam Presti. Turns out, when Presti took over the Sonics the first thing he had to do was trade his 2 all stars; Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen. The Allen trade got them Jeff Green, and eventually Kendrick Perkins. But the Lewis trade has such a fascinating timeline:

Magic sign Rashard Lewis in sign and trade with Seattle.

Seattle receives 9 million TPE and a 2nd rd pick

Seattle trades the 2nd rd pick and using the TPE, acquire Kurt Thomas and 2 1st rd picks from Phoenix

Seattle trades Kurt Thomas to San Antonio for Brent Barry, Francisco Elson, and a 1st rd pick.

Now by having the TPE and some cap flexibility, Seattle acquired 3 1st rd picks from the Rashard Lewis sign and trade. One of those picks ended up being Serge Ibaka. In 2010, OKC had 3 1st rd picks(18, 21, 26) and traded 2 of those to move up to acquire Cole Aldrich (11).

Of course, Hennigan was involved in this process so I imagine he is thinking of doing something similar to this with Dwight's TPE. It will take a while, but I have faith Hennigan will make the right deal.