The Dallas Mavericks have dealt with more than their share of injuries this year. They’re still waiting for Kyrie Irving to return from last season’s ACL tear, they’ve been without Anthony Davis for 17 of their 33 games, and both Dereck Lively II and Dante Exum are expected to be out for the rest of the year.
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Lively played in only seven games before needing season-ending foot surgery, while Exum has yet to play at all after signing a one-year deal this offseason. He’s dealt with complications from an offseason knee procedure, forcing him to go under the knife again to clear things up.
The Mavs are trying to fight back after a 5-15 start to the season, and led by ascendant rookie Cooper Flagg, they’ve worked themselves back into the periphery of the playoffs discussion by going 7-6 since late November. In desperate need of bodies, though, due to the aforementioned injuries, NBA insider Marc Stein has reported that the team has applied for a Disabled Player Exception for both Lively and Exum.
What is the Disabled Player Exception? In short, it allows a team to replace a player who will be out for the rest of the year without it counting against the salary cap. As a second apron team, getting one or both of these requests granted by the league would be a godsend for a Mavs team that is otherwise almost out of options to improve the roster this year.
To have their request granted, a league-appointed physician will need to determine that Lively and/or Exum will be out through at least June 15th, effectively the entire league year. Interestingly enough, even if the league determines that, the players could still come back with no penalty if they somehow heal sooner.
With the Disabled Player Exception, the Mavs could sign or trade for a player making up to 50% of Lively and/or Exum’s salary without violating the cap. There are some caveats, though. They would still need to adhere to the 15-player roster limit, and they would lose the exception if they cut or traded the player to whom it was granted. They would also need to use it before March 10.
Few people seem to believe that a team can only be granted one Disabled Player Exception per year, but the Pacers received two last year, for Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman, so it’s possible that the Mavs could, too. Getting the DPE could also allow Dallas to generate another trade exception, much like the Grizzlies did when they traded Steven Adams to Houston last year after Ja Morant’s DPE.
The Mavs have already used their mid-level trade exception on D’Angelo Russell this offseason, so they could potentially get that back with the right move. They could also help bridge the gap until Kyrie returns, which should be sometime in January.
At this time last year, the Pacers were just 15-17, and though they didn’t end up using either of the DPEs the league granted them, they ended up making a Cinderella run all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. There’s still hope for the Mavs, especially if they can get Flagg, AD, and Kyrie together for an extended period.
