NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bulls have officially applied for a Disabled Player Exception due to Lonzo Ball’s knee injury, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The NBA will now review Ball’s injury status and decide whether the Bulls should be awarded an exception worth $10.2 million (aka half of Ball’s 2023-24 salary).
The full expectation should be that the Bulls do win their case with the league. The front office already announced during their post-draft press conference that they expect Ball to miss the entirety of the upcoming season. This also came as no surprise with Ball undergoing three knee surgeries since January of 2022. Whether or not the young point guard will ever be able to make a return to the floor remains a legitimate question.
While the exception can give the Bulls some important wiggle room, it’s not necessarily a given that they put it to use. The extra money doesn’t just come as salary relief. Instead, spending any of it will count toward the cap and the luxury tax. So, in other words, there is a real chance the Bulls don’t even touch this extra money. I know the organization said they have the green light to go into the tax, but (as I continue to say) I’ll believe it when I see. Remember … organization has paid the tax bill ONCE.
The exception also includes some other annoying details. It can not be used to add multiple players and it must ONLY be used to sign a player on a one-year deal or acquire a player in the final year of his contract. Hoops Rumors provides some more context about past usage here.
At the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do knowing that Ball will remain sidelined. But we’re just going to have to wait and see if it really leads to any sort of roster move in the future.
