They are an amnesty away from the full MLE now according to reports.
Long story short, they reworked the deal with what they were told, and still got it vetoed. Then they were told to try again and the nba didn't respond with a verdict after making more changes they wanted.
They have Bynum, Pau, the 8.9M TPE, a 5.5M TPE, and what could be the full MLE. Theoretically I guess they could cut Artest who came into camp overweight with a beer gut. Then they could use their full MLE to sign someone, like maybe Landry. Then they still have the two exceptions, Pau being wanted badly by Houston who kept giving up more, and picks. We will see I guess.
They did possibly fuck over Jersey though. If they can get a deal for Dwight, Dallas could cut Odom next year with only 2M of his cash guaranteed, and offer Deron the max