The Magic have been granted a disabled player exception by the NBA as a result of Jonathan Isaac‘s season-ending knee injury, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Isaac suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during the NBA’s restart at Disney World and underwent surgery in August.
The disabled player exception is a salary cap exception designed to allow teams to add a replacement for a player who suffers a major injury. It’s worth either half the injured player’s salary or the value of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, whichever is lesser.
Since Isaac’s salary in 2020/21 is $7,362,566, Orlando’s new trade exception will be worth half that amount: $3,681,283.
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The disabled player exception doesn’t give a team an extra roster spot, but it allows the club to add a player without using cap space to do so. It can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade. However, it can only be used on one player and can only accommodate a player on a one-year deal. A free agent signee can’t get a multiyear contract, and any trade or waiver target must be in the final year of his contract.
The Magic probably won’t be in a rush to use their DPE — using it in full would bump their team salary over the tax line. Still, it could be a useful tool at some point this season. They’re the second team to be granted a disabled player exception this season, joining the Warriors (Klay Thompson).
Are the Warriors going to use their DPE and increase their gargantuan payroll even more? They’re spending money like the Yankees do every year.
Kid that is the whole point of the league, teams spend as much as they can, that is how you win or at least you try… teams that always try to stay below the tax line, i.e. HOU are teams that try not to win, which is baffling when you have a megastar like Harden, right?