What Could Lakers Do With A Disabled Player Exception?

Following Steve Nash‘s somewhat unexpected announcement of his retirement, there were many options the Lakers could have went with. Aside from trading him or cutting him, they could have pursued a medical retirement, taking Nash entirely off the salary cap. However, that would not take effect until April, a year after his last game, far too late to have any significant impact on the Lakers.

Instead, the more realistic option, which the Lakers are pursuing, is a disabled player exception. The exception would grant the Lakers half of Nash’s salary, $4.85 million, to use on a free agent. The amount bumps up slightly to $4.95 million if used as a trade exception. However, any free agent signed with the exception could only be signed for one season and any player traded for must be in the final year of his contract.

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The problem, however, is that this comes so late in the off-season that the Lakers options are incredibly limited. While their focus will be on another point guard, the talent pool is very thin. Most certainly, no remaining free agent the Lakers sign would command full use of the exception. Also keep in mind that this exception won’t be granted for multiple weeks, further complication the likelihood of using it on a free agent.

Instead, the most likely (while still unrealistic) situation the Lakers would use the player exception would be via trade. As stated above, the player must be in his final year of his contract. The most likely scenario would be if a team wants to avoid paying the luxury tax later in the season or wants to create a little more cap room for a bigger trade, the Lakers could be a salary dump destination.

Admittedly, I attempted to list some players who the Lakers could target, but the amount of the exception is so small that few teams would be looking to dump that little of a contract. Luis Scola was likely the most prominent name that fits, but the circumstances seem unlikely for a deal to be made with the Pacers.

The most likely scenario would involve the Lakers coming in on some sort of three-team deal as a team to make salaries match, taking on an extra contract with the bonus of a draft pick, and moving on. In reality, this would be the best case scenario for the exception, and will likely be what Mitch Kupchak focuses on during the trade deadline. You can expect the Lakers to be linked to a few three-team deals with the exception in their back pocket.

The only other plausible use for it is if a player is waived whose salary fits into that exception. The Lakers can make a claim on that player and, if they win the claim, that contract will fit into the player exception. However, it’s very rare that a player with a contract that large is simply waived. More often than not, a team will agree to a buyout of sorts and move their separate ways.

In reality, don’t expect the Lakers to use this to specifically upgrade the team. The options are too limited this late in the off-season and the exception is too small for the Lakers to absorb a significant contract.