Brooklyn Nets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Injury Notes: Embiid, Nets, Lyles, Fultz, LeVert

November 22nd, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Sixers center Joel Embiid will be sidelined for Wednesday’s game in Minnesota due to left hip soreness, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

While Embiid has been frequently impacted by injuries over the course of his career, there’s no indication at this point that his hip issue is a cause for any real concern. Wednesday’s contest is the second night of a back-to-back set and it will be the first game that the reigning MVP has missed this season. He played 41 minutes in Tuesday’s overtime loss to Cleveland.

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

Nets guard Ben Simmons (back nerve impingement) is making progress in his recovery and has begun “light individual court work,” but he’ll be sidelined for at least seven-to-10 more days, the team announced today in a press release. Brooklyn offered a more positive update on Cam Thomas, who has made “significant improvement” in his recovery from a left ankle sprain and has been cleared for increased on-court work. He’s expected to be integrated into team activities next week, according to the club. Guard Dennis Smith Jr., meanwhile, is day to day with a lower back sprain.
Kings forward Trey Lyles, who has yet to play this season due to a left calf strain, appears to be on the verge of his season debut. According to Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee, Lyles is expected to be active on Wednesday vs. New Orleans, while Keegan Murray (lower back soreness) will likely be ruled out. Both players were listed as questionable in the NBA’s most recent injury report.
Magic guard Markelle Fultz is unavailable for a seventh straight game on Wednesday vs. Denver due to left knee tendinitis, tweets Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel.
In addition to missing Donovan Mitchell for the past three games, the Cavaliers have also been without Caris LeVert, who is dealing with knee soreness, for their past two contests, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs haven’t missed a beat without the two guards, however, and are currently riding a four-game winning streak.

Injury Notes: LaRavia, Reddish, Watanabe, DSJ, Thomas

November 22nd, 2023 at 8:43am CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies forward Jake LaRavia is undergoing a procedure to address a corneal abrasion of his left eye, the team announced in a press release on Tuesday (Twitter link). According to the club, LaRavia will be reevaluated in about two or three weeks, so he won’t return until sometime in December, at the earliest.

It’s the latest in a growing list of injuries for the Grizzlies, who are missing big men Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke due to long-term ailments and have also had Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, and Xavier Tillman go down recently.

The Grizzlies are already carrying one extra player on their standard roster while Ja Morant is on the suspended list, but could qualify for another roster spot via the hardship provision. A team can apply for a hardship exception when it has at least four players who have missed three or more consecutive games due to injury or illness, assuming those players will remain sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Wednesday’s game vs. Houston will be the third straight that Smart, Kennard, and Tillman have missed, so the Grizzlies could request a hardship exception after that contest if they want to try to add some extra depth.

Here are a few more injury-related updates from around the NBA:

Lakers forward Cam Reddish left Tuesday’s win over Utah early due to a groin injury and didn’t return. He’ll undergo further evaluation on Wednesday to assess the severity of the injury, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). Head coach Darvin Ham said that second-year guard Max Christie could play a “really prominent” role on Wednesday vs. Dallas if Reddish can’t go, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Suns forward Yuta Watanabe, who was unavailable for a second straight game on Tuesday, has a “deep” thigh bruise that head coach Frank Vogel described as “really painful,” per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Watanabe’s return timeline is unclear.
Nets guard Dennis Smith Jr., affected by a lower back sprain, underwent an MRI on Tuesday, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Smith will be out for a second consecutive game on Wednesday.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn added that the team should have an update on injured guard Cam Thomas (ankle sprain) later this week, according to Lewis. “He is heading in the right direction,” Vaughn said of Thomas. “Unless we wanted to be extremely proficient in giving him an MRI to compare to, to my knowledge he won’t need another MRI. He’s building towards getting back on the floor.”

Nets Notes: Simmons, Whitehead, Walker, Defense

November 18th, 2023 at 6:38pm CST by Rory Maher

While Ben Simmons‘ latest injury — a nerve impingement in his lower left back — isn’t believed to be nearly as serious as the multiple herniated disks that required surgery last year, the fact that he’s still having back issues is obviously concerning.

Brian Lewis of The New York Post spoke to Dr. Neel Anand, an orthopedic spine surgeon based in Los Angeles, to get a better understanding of Simmons’ injury. According to Anand, the question to ask isn’t whether or not Simmons will have ongoing back issues — it’s how often he might have flare-ups like the one he seems to be experiencing now.

“Again, low back. All that means is this disk is not great. Once you’ve had a disk problem, whether it be a tear, a disk herniation — which is what he had before — that disk is not normal anymore, so it’s not unusual to get another tear or a small thing that flares up again,” Anand told The Post. “The question is, is this new episode another major disk herniation, or just a little flare-up which can be settled down?

“It’s like your car tire. You get a tire, you patch the hole and you’re fine and you drive your car. That tire could blow up again, get another tear, or it could run another 10 years. That’s the issue; that tire is not normal anymore. You patched the tire; that’s all you’ve done. And that’s what the surgery we do for micro decompression — which is what he probably had — is. But the actual disk is not the same anymore. So you can get other tears.

“What’s important is the MRI didn’t show a large disk herniation pushing on his nerves or something big. … [Reports say] he doesn’t need surgery, so based on that I’m going to assume he does not have a big disk herniation. He’s got a small tear that’s flared up. Anti-inflammatories settle it down 90-95 percent of the time. Now, can it happen again? That’s a $1 million question. The answer’s yes; the question is when? Nobody can predict. [Or] he could play for years. Nobody can predict that.”

Here’s more on the Nets:

First-round pick Dariq Whitehead is a former top high school recruit who dealt with a foot injury that required a second surgery prior to the draft. He’s now playing for Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate in Long Island as he continues to regain his conditioning. Speaking to Jordan Greene of NetsDaily.com, Whitehead said he’s “getting closer to where I need to be.” “I’m currently getting my legs where they need to be and my explosiveness is getting back as well,” he said. “When you’re out for six months you sort of lose your bounce a little bit. Now, I’m trying to get my first step back so I can get back to my regular self and hopefully be able to play above the rim soon.”
Lonnie Walker signed a one-year, minimum salary contract with the Nets as unrestricted free agent over the summer. To this point, he has been an absolute bargain, stepping up while Simmons and leading scorer Cam Thomas are out with injuries, per Lewis of The New York Post. “He’s just continuing to make plays for us on both ends of the floor,” said head coach Jacque Vaughn. “He’s flying around on the defensive end of the floor, which we need. And then offensively, you see his ability to attack the rim.” Through 11 games (21.6 MPG), Walker is averaging a career-best 15.7 PPG on an excellent .508/.439/.769 shooting line.
According to Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link), Brooklyn theoretically has a roster that could put together one of the better defenses in the league, with two former Defensive Player of the Year runner-ups in Simmons (2021) and Mikal Bridges (2022), along with a strong back-line anchor in Nic Claxton. But the Nets currently have the NBA’s 23rd-ranked defense, with injuries to Simmons and Claxton playing a factor in that poor figure. As Lewis writes, the coaches want the team to take more risks to force more turnovers, which the Nets haven’t been doing to this point — they’re last in the league in opponent turnovers.

Nets Notes: Bridges, LaVine, Thomas, Johnson, Simmons

November 16th, 2023 at 4:32pm CST by Rory Maher

Mikal Bridges has individual handshakes and greetings with people throughout the Nets‘ organization. He hopes that positive energy will help build the team’s culture.

“I think it’s just being who I am, that’s how culture starts,” Bridges told Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. “Bringing in good people. I think there’s nothing else to it. Just bringing energy, being who I am and just be nice. Basically be myself and hopefully people will follow.”

As Fischer writes, the 27-year-old wing is friendly with many players around the league, including stars. Brooklyn hopes Bridges’ personality and “malleable” game will make the Nets an attractive option for a star player in the future.

“I’m friends with a lot of people. I think friendships help. Obviously, if I think it’s a good option, then yeah.” said Bridges, adding that he’s not proactively recruiting players around the league. “I’m just trying to win now and do what it takes. You can talk about all the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybe this,’ but you can’t control that. Other than that just trying to win now. I’m more locked in on the guys here.”

Here’s more on the Nets:

If Zach LaVine is traded, he’s unlikely to land with Brooklyn, sources tell Fischer. Based on Fischer’s wording, it’s unclear if LaVine is uninterested in the Nets or they’re uninterested in him (or both).
Guard Cam Thomas will be reevaluated next week after spraining his left ankle. While he’s in “good spirits” and is making progress, he says sustaining the injury was discouraging, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Of course it’s frustrating. I was playing real well, helping the team, we were competing. What was I, number six or seven in scoring at the time? So obviously it’s frustrating,” said Thomas, who is averaging 26.9 points in eight games. “But at the end of day, everything happens for a reason. So I’m going to just try to rehab as best I can, just so I can get back to that level of play I was at, that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to.”
Forward Cameron Johnson scored a season-high 20 points (on 7-of-11 shooting) in Tuesday’s victory over Orlando, also contributing five rebounds and three steals. It was a much-needed boost to a Nets team playing without Thomas and Ben Simmons (back), writes Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. Johnson missed seven consecutive games after getting injured in the season opener, but he seems to be rounding into form, says Reilly.
The Nets can no longer rely on Simmons as a focal point after his latest injury, a nerve impingement in his lower left back that will sideline him for at least another week, Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily.com opines. Assuming Simmons is fully healthy when he returns, Kaplan thinks he’ll return to the starting lineup because he’s the highest-paid player on the team. But that would be a mistake, in Kaplan’s view, because Simmons negatively impacts the half-court offense, which has looked better without him. Kaplan believes Simmons should be a “low-minute, spark-plug point-center that pushes the pace relentlessly” off the bench.

Dinwiddie Struggling With New Role

November 14th, 2023 at 10:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn labeled Ben Simmons‘ latest ailment a “bump in the road,” Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets. “This is just a bump that’s in his road right now that happened. Its not like he wanted it to happen,” Vaughn said. “He was playing well and this happened. Everybody’s body is different. This is what he’s dealing with and we’ll support him while he’s dealing with it.” Simmons will be out at least another week due to a nerve impingement in his back.
Prior to Simmons being sidelined, Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie was struggling with his new role of playing off the ball. “He’s still wrapping his head around how he fits into the different lineups he’s been in, which is definitely understandable,’’ Vaughn said. “But that’s a part of growing together as a team. We’ll continue to learn about the best position to put him in. But he has an extreme ability to impact second group, first group, small and big lineup.’’ An unrestricted free agent after the season, Dinwiddie is averaging 10.7 and 4.8 assists per game this season, compared to 16.5 points and 9.1 assists after Brooklyn re-acquired him last season.

Atlantic Notes: Simmons, Sixers, Porzingis, Poeltl

November 14th, 2023 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets guard Ben Simmons will remain sidelined for at least a little while longer due to a nerve impingement in the lower left side of his back, according to statements from the team and agent Bernie Lee (Twitter links via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).

As Lewis observes (via Twitter), Simmons required surgery in 2022 on multiple herniated disks on the right side of his back, then dealt with a nerve impingement. However, this issue is affecting the other side of his back and isn’t nearly as severe, Lee says. The club indicated an update on Simmons’ status will be provided in a week.

“He’s not experiencing anything similar to what he’s gone through in the past,” Lee said of his client, per Lewis (Twitter links). “And this is something that the expectation is that with the proper kind of rehab he’ll be able to resume his season in a short period of time without any issue.

“It definitely should be on the shorter side of things. It’s really a day-to-day kind of evaluation situation. What has to happen is the area has to calm down. Once it calms down there’s a period of reactivity that’s built into things.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Having acquired a handful of draft assets in their James Harden trade, how are the Sixers looking to use those assets on the trade market? President of basketball operations Daryl Morey spoke in a recent appearance on The Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast about what type of player the team would like to add. “I would say first off, they need to be pretty solid on both ends,” Morey said, per Marc Stein at Substack. “As you get into the playoffs, it gets very hard for your top guys to be elite one way. … The other thing would be we probably need them to have a bit of play-making — sort of connector, ball-movement aspects. We are a little short on that and it becomes more important in the playoffs as well.” As Stein notes, it’s perhaps no surprise, based on that description, that Raptors forward OG Anunoby “keeps coming up” as a potential 76ers target.
Rumors surfaced during his time with the Knicks that Kristaps Porzingis would be unhappy if he wasn’t treated as the “face of the franchise,” but the Celtics big man is satisfied with being a secondary option in Boston and says he was never focused on being the go-to guy. “Maybe it was falsely pushed,” Porzingis said of the old narrative, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “I never felt that way because today’s league is, other than [Nikola] Jokic and [Joel] Embiid, it’s a guard league. It’s mostly guards and small forwards. So I knew that if I want to win, you’re going to have to play with somebody… It was never an issue for me.”
Raptors center Jakob Poeltl spoke to Oren Weisfeld of Yahoo Sports Canada about his first stint in Toronto, the experience of watching the team win a title without him in 2019, and what it’s been like to rejoin the franchise several years later.

Injury Notes: Vanderbilt, Beal, Magic, Nets

November 13th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt has been cleared by team doctors to begin a return to play progression, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Vanderbilt, 24, has yet to make his 2023/24 regular season debut, missing all 10 of the Lakers’ games due to left heel bursitis. Since he’s been sidelined for several weeks and has been dealing with a foot injury, it might take him some time to ramp up his conditioning.

Still, it’s obviously a positive update for both Vanderbilt and the team. The Lakers’ defense is currently ranked 22nd in the league, and having one of their top defenders nearing a return should help with that figure.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

Suns guard Bradley Beal missed Phoenix’s first seven games with a lower back injury, which he tweaked during Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma City, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Beal said his back was “a little tight” throughout the game and he needs to be “smart moving forward” after choosing to play the second half despite being less than 100 percent. “We’ve been trending in the right direction,” Beal said. “This is probably the first day we’ve had, I don’t want to say a setback, but where it’s gotten tight throughout the course of a game. It’s just evaluating that seeing how; recovery is always the biggest question. How I feel afterward. See how I feel (Sunday night), in the morning and hopefully I don’t feel like I got hit by a bus and I’ll be good to go come Wednesday.”
Magic guards Gary Harris and Markelle Fultz will be sidelined Tuesday in Brooklyn, but they’re traveling with the team on Orlando’s four-game road trip, according to Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com (Twitter link). It will be the fifth straight absence for Harris, who is battling a right groin strain, while Fultz is dealing with left knee soreness.
Nets center Nic Claxton had a strong performance in Sunday’s victory over Washington, notes Dan Martin of The New York Post. Claxton, who had missed the past eight games with a high left ankle sprain, finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in 28 minutes.
Unfortunately, Lonnie Walker aggravated a left knee injury on Sunday, Martin adds, but the Nets guard sounds determined to play through it. “I’ll be ready for the next game,” said Walker. “If my leg’s not broken, I’m gonna keep playing. We’ll see how it goes [Monday]. … It’s a lot of pain. I’ve been playing through it.” Walker is officially questionable for Tuesday’s game with a left knee contusion, while Ben Simmons will miss his fourth straight game with a left hip contusion, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link).

Nets Notes: Simmons, Claxton, Giles, Johnson

November 12th, 2023 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets have the best fast break in the league, but only when Ben Simmons is part of it, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Simmons is expected to miss his third straight game today with a hip contusion, which slows down the Brooklyn attack considerably.

“There’s no secret: Ben gives us an energy, a pace,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “Like it, love it. We miss it, we need it, it’s a part of who we are, it’s the way our team is built. We’ll try to have to figure out who can aid in pushing the pace for us. But the realization for us is that’s how we need to play.”

In the six games that Simmons has played this season, the Nets are averaging 22.8 fast break points, the top figure in the league by a wide margin. That number falls to 11.3 in the three games he’s missed, which only ranks 27th. Even with the hip issue, Simmons is enjoying his most productive season in three years and he gives the team a chance to score a lot of easy baskets.

“Ben does such a terrific job at when he’s in transition, two, three guys are coming in and he’s such a great passer it makes the game a lot easier,” Lonnie Walker said. “But when he’s out, we’ve got to understand with a great player out we’ve got to step it up and take part in that role.”

There’s more from Brooklyn:

The Nets expect Nic Claxton to return today after being sidelined since the season opener, Lewis states in another Post story. Claxton suffered a high ankle sprain on opening night and has missed the past eight games. Vaughn has been using an undersized lineup in Claxton’s absence, with 6’7″ Dorian Finney-Smith starting at center.
Harry Giles played his first NBA game since the 2020/21 season Friday night, scoring seven points in five minutes of action, Lewis adds. “It felt great, man. It felt great,” said Giles, who earned a roster spot after joining the Nets on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract. “Just got to be ready anytime. You never know. It felt good to get up and down and get my first run in a Brooklyn Nets jersey and my first run of the season. It felt good and I’m thankful.”
Cameron Johnson was happy to be back on the court Friday after missing seven games with a strained left calf, Lewis notes in a separate piece. Johnson also sat out the preseason, so he has to get back into the habit of playing regularly. “It’s a process. But I feel real good about it,” he said. “One thing you always have to do is respect the game, respect basketball, respect the NBA level. Rhythm is a big thing in this league, and my goal is to come back and establish that as quickly as possible.”

Nets Notes: Simmons, Vaughn, Walker, Whitehead

November 11th, 2023 at 8:31am CST by Tristan Tucker

Reestablishing the relationship between Nets guard Ben Simmons and head coach Jacque Vaughn was a priority for Brooklyn this offseason, Andscape’s Marc J. Spears writes.

The Nets allowed Simmons to spend the offseason training in Miami, where he felt most comfortable, and Vaughn made sure to visit and connect with the former No. 1 overall pick several times.

“I had something to prove,” Simmons said. “So, whoever comes down, whoever doesn’t, I know who’s there for me. And he was down there. He came to check on me, which I really appreciate and that gave me more confidence. It was good to have him down there.”

Simmons, who said his relationship with Vaughn was “terrible” to start out, was upset with the lack of communication between the two parties and believed the head coach was frustrated by an injury situation that limited him to 42 games last season. After working on the relationship over the offseason, Vaughn handed the keys to the starting lineup over to Simmons, who ranks toward the top of the league in rebounds and assists.

“I thought it was important for me to reestablish our relationship from the way it was introduced,” Vaughn said. “[2022/23] was during a pretty tumultuous season with expectation, trauma and chaos, and we both were involved in it. And for me to hopefully let him know that [there were] no hard feelings my way. I was trying to set a standard for the program and that’s my responsibility as a coach and to let him know what my expectations were for him going forward and that I am pulling for him at the same time.“

We have more from the Nets:

Simmons is day-to-day with a hip injury, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. He has missed two consecutive games. “He received treatment, and he’ll continue to receive treatment,” Vaughn said. “[We’re] just not in the place where all parties around feel comfortable with him playing at the levels that he’s been playing it.“
Lonnie Walker IV is off to a career-best start after signing a minimum-salary contract with the Nets in the offseason. In eight games, Walker’s averaging 16.8 points while shooting 53.8% from the floor and 46.3% from deep in just 22.4 minutes a night. “Just genuinely understanding just the game [and] kind of slowing it down,” Walker said of the difference in his play this season (via the New York Post’s Dan Martin). “I used to always play 100 percent going too fast without really analyzing the game.” With Cam Thomas sidelined for at least two weeks, Walker could continue to see his usage and playing time increase.
Brooklyn first round pick and former five-star recruit Dariq Whitehead dealt with a lingering foot injury through the draft process and offseason. The youngest draft pick in Nets history made his professional on-court debut in the G League, starting for Brooklyn’s affiliate Long Island Nets on Friday, according to Nets Daily (Twitter link). He finished with five points and four rebounds in his return to the court.

Largest Trade Exceptions Available This Season

November 10th, 2023 at 2:38pm CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA’s 2024 trade deadline approaches, it’s worth keeping in mind which teams hold traded player exceptions that could come in handy to grease the wheels on an in-season deal.

As we explain in our glossary, a traded player exception allows a team to take on salary in a trade without sending out any salary in return. The amount of the exception (plus $250K) is the amount of salary the team is permitted to take back without salary-matching – either in a single deal or in multiple trades – for one year.

For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception could acquire a player earning $4MM and a player earning $6.25MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.

In recent years, sizable traded player exceptions have served as wild cards that helped accommodate both pre-deadline and offseason deals. For example, after creating a $17MM trade exception when they sent Davis Bertans to the Thunder and moved down a couple spots in the 2023 draft lottery, the Mavericks used that TPE to acquire Richaun Holmes along with an additional first-round pick later in the night.

Many trade exceptions expire without being used, but as our tracker shows, there are many sizable ones available this season that could be useful when trade season begins in earnest.

Here are the 20 most valuable trade exceptions around the NBA for now, along with their expiry dates in parentheses:

Atlanta Hawks: $23,019,560 (7/8/24)
Brooklyn Nets: $19,928,571 (7/8/24)
Brooklyn Nets: $18,131,946 (2/9/24)
Washington Wizards: $12,354,400 (6/24/24)
Washington Wizards: $9,800,926 (7/8/24)
Miami Heat: $9,450,000 (7/8/24)
Portland Trail Blazers: $8,778,377 (9/27/24)
Portland Trail Blazers: $8,300,000 (2/9/24)
Memphis Grizzlies: $7,492,540 (7/8/24)
Miami Heat: $7,243,842 (7/8/24)
Philadelphia 76ers: $6,831,413 (11/1/24)
New York Knicks: $6,803,012 (7/8/24)
Brooklyn Nets: $6,802,950 (7/8/24)
Phoenix Suns: $6,500,000 (7/17/24)
Boston Celtics: $6,202,500 (7/12/24)
Washington Wizards: $5,379,250 (6/24/24)
Phoenix Suns: $4,975,371 (2/9/24)
Dallas Mavericks: $4,953,980 (7/8/24)
Miami Heat: $4,700,000 (2/7/24)
Houston Rockets: $4,510,000 (10/17/24)

Those Hawks and Nets trade exceptions are big enough to be genuine assets, but I wouldn’t expect either club to make full use of them during the season. Both Atlanta and Brooklyn are about $8-10MM away from the luxury tax line and would move even closer to becoming taxpayers if certain players on their rosters earn bonuses currently considered unlikely.

Neither team is close enough to title contention to warrant becoming a taxpayer this season unless it’s for a major, major acquisition, so don’t count on either the Hawks or Nets using a TPE to bring in a $15MM role player with no outgoing salary.

The luxury tax looms as an issue for some of the other teams on this list as well, but there are some intriguing TPEs to keep an eye on. Would-be contenders like the Sixers, Celtics, and Suns may consider using their exceptions to try to fortify their benches ahead of the postseason, while a rebuilding team like the Wizards – with nearly $30MM in breathing room below the tax – could be a dumping ground for an unwanted contract — as long as that contract comes attached to a draft asset or two.

Teams like the Lakers and Pelicans, who are just narrowly over the tax threshold and could duck below by trading a single player, are potential trade partners to watch for Washington.

It’s worth noting that some of these exceptions may be used in a deal that could otherwise be completed using salary matching. For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception that swaps one $8MM player for another could use the exception to take on the incoming player and create a new $8MM exception using the outgoing player.