A disabled player exception can be granted when an NBA team has a player go down with an injury deemed to be season-ending. The exception gives the club some additional spending flexibility to add a single-season replacement in the trade market or in free agency
We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions, what they’re worth, and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE allows a team to sign a player to a one-year contract, trade for a player in the final year of his contract, or place a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract. The exceptions are worth either half the injured player’s salary or the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (whichever amount is less).
Because the rules related to disable player exceptions are somewhat restrictive and the exceptions themselves generally aren’t worth a lot, they often expire without being used. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on which disabled player exceptions have been granted, just in case.
We’ll use this space to break down the teams with disabled player exceptions available for the 2024/25 league year, updating it as the season progresses if more teams are granted DPEs and/or to indicate which ones have been used.
Teams have until January 15 to apply for a disabled player exception and until March 10 to actually use them.
Here’s the list so far:
Available disabled player exceptions:
- Utah Jazz:
- $2,924,340 (Taylor Hendricks) (story)
Hendricks sustained a non-contact fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle in just the third game of his second NBA season on October 28 and underwent season-ending surgery in early November. The Jazz applied for and were granted a disabled player exception worth half of his $5.8MM+ salary.
The Jazz are operating far below the luxury tax line, giving them plenty of flexibility to potentially use this exception, but they also still have their full room exception, which is worth nearly $8MM and can be used to add a player via either trade or free agency.
That room exception is more likely to come in handy than the disabled player exception, but there are some trade scenarios in which the DPE would be useful. For instance, if the Bucks wanted to salary-dump MarJon Beauchamp‘s $2.73MM expiring contract to reduce their projected tax bill, the Jazz could take him into their disabled player exception, preserving their full room exception.
- Denver Nuggets:
- $1,532,820 (DaRon Holmes) (story)
Holmes’ rookie season came to an end before it began, as he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his very first Summer League game in July. As a rookie selected relatively late in the first round (No. 22 overall), Holmes is earning a modest first-year salary of about $3.07MM, so Denver’s disabled player exception is even more modest.
While the Nuggets’ disabled player exception probably won’t do much for them on the trade market, it could have some value in the buyout market. By late February or early March, the prorated minimum salary for a veteran free agent will be well below $1,532,820, so Denver could use their DPE to offer a top target more than the vet’s minimum in an effort to beat out rival suitors.
For now though, the Nuggets have a full 15-man roster, so it remains to be seen whether they’ll be in position to be a player on the buyout market at all.
Possible disabled player exception requests:
The following players have suffered injuries that have either been ruled season-ending or are considered potentially season-ending. There have been no reports yet that their teams have requested or been granted disabled player exceptions, but these situations are worth keeping an eye on:
- Charlotte Hornets:
- Grant Williams (torn ACL/meniscus; $13,025,250 salary)
- Golden State Warriors:
- De’Anthony Melton (ACL surgery; $12,822,000 salary)
- Indiana Pacers:
- Isaiah Jackson (torn Achilles; $4,435,381 salary)
- James Wiseman (torn Achilles; $2,237,691 salary)
Nikola Topic (Thunder) and Saddiq Bey (Wizards) are recovering from ACL surgeries that may keep them out for the entire 2024/25 season, but their injuries were known before their respective teams acquired them, so they aren’t eligible for disabled player exceptions.
QUESTION:
So if the Warriors wanted, they could get a DPE on Melton and use it to get another player, but if they do that, can they still trade Melton and his expiring salary to a team who will get to keep that slot for a $12.8M (or less) player in free agency next year?
The Warriors could use their DPE and trade Melton, but it would have to be done in that order. If they trade Melton before using the DPE, they’d forfeit it (this happened to the Grizzlies last season when they traded Steven Adams before using their Adams DPE).
I’ll go into more detail on the Warriors’ situation if and when they’re granted a DPE, but it’ll be very hard for them to use it on a free agent without shedding salary elsewhere, due to their hard cap.
Thanks! Obviously a lot of the Warriors moves will likely include GP2, Looney and Wiggins, depending on how much salary they need to move. They can also sign and trade Kuminga to match the money in any potential deal.
Well, a Kuminga sign-and-trade would only be an option beginning next July. He could be traded during the season, but would only count for his current outgoing salary ($7.6MMish).
Luke, could the below work for Warriors?
– shed Gary Payton’s expiring $9M in December
– then claim $6.5M DPE for Melton
– then send out Melton’s $12.5M expiring contract in a trade that results in an updated total salary obligation that keeps GSW under the hard-cap
– then use the $6.5M DPE without consideration of the hard-cap
This would be a “double dip”, effectively capturing the full value of the $12.5M expiring contract AND the $6.5M DPE.
That order of operations wouldn’t work since they’d forfeit the DPE upon moving Melton if they haven’t used it by that point.
I believe they’re about $530K below their hard cap now, so they could do something like:
– Shed Payton ($9.13MM) in a salary-dump deal (move to $9.7MMish below hard cap).
– Use the $6.4MM DPE to trade for a player earning around that amount without sending out matching salary (move to $3.3MMish below hard cap).
– Use Melton’s $12.8MM expiring salary to take back a player earning up to about 16MM (taking advantage of the $3.3MMish in wiggle room below hard cap).
Since we are asking Warriors questions, what is the value of draft picks when used in trades? The Nets have 6 picks in the 2025 draft. It seems their 2 seconds could be had. 4 rookies are a lot to develop. Looking at their salary cap situation, they’ll be big players in free agency.
Hard to pin down the value of a draft pick since there are so many factors to consider (where it projects to land, how many years away it is, whether it has protections, how many other picks the team has in the draft, quality of that year’s draft class, and so on). But yes, I’d definitely agree that the Nets are unlikely to use all six of their 2025 picks. Wouldn’t be surprised if we see them try to push some of them down the road, which is easier to do on draft night than well in advance.
Luke, thanks, that’s very clear.
– It makes sense that the trade would have to happen before the DPE.
– You’ve also provided the information that I was, ultimately, most interested in: the top contract value of the player whom GSW could get back in this scenario, which, barring inclusion of other contracts by either team, is about $16M.