A pair of disabled player exceptions are set to expire, assuming they go unused today. Three teams were granted DPEs this season and two of those teams – the Mavericks and Grizzlies – have yet to use them.
We go into more detail on how exactly disabled player exceptions work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE gives a team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.
The Wizards, who were granted a disabled player exception worth $8.641MM (the amount of the mid-level exception) after John Wall went down with a season-ending injury, used their exception to acquire Wesley Johnson in a deadline-day trade with the Pelicans.
Using the DPE to accommodate that deal, which saw Markieff Morris sent to New Orleans, allowed Washington to create a trade exception worth Morris’ salary ($8.6MM). That trade exception won’t expire until February 7, 2020, which gives the Wizards some additional flexibility. Their disabled player exception would have expired today, as a team with a DPE has until March 10 (or the next business day) to use it.
As for the Mavericks and Grizzlies, their disabled player exceptions are far more modest than Washington’s. Dallas received one worth $1,855,425 (half of J.J. Barea‘s salary), while Memphis’ is worth just $689,121 (half of Dillon Brooks‘ salary).
With the trade deadline behind us and no player on waivers, the only option for those teams would be to sign a free agent using the DPE, but that seems unlikely at this point — there’s little incentive for either lottery-bound club to sign a player to a one-year contract worth more than the minimum. The more probable outcome is that both exceptions simply expire.
Ed Davis