On Wednsday, the Los Angeles Lakers received a small bit of good news when they were granted a disabled player exception of $1.75 million for injured center DeMarcus Cousins.
The Lakers have been granted a disabled player exception worth $1.75M from the NBA for the expected season-ending ACL injury to DeMarcus Cousins, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. It expires on March 10, 2020.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 19, 2019
The amount in question is half of what Cousins was scheduled to earn for the 2019-20 season. Exactly how long he’s expected to be out with the ACL injury he suffered last month is unknown, but the Lakers don’t appear confident that he’ll be able to play during the campaign.
Obtaining a player of Cousins’ caliber with that available money isn’t likely, though things could be interesting once the February trade deadline passes. That’s usually the time when veterans typically ask to be bought out of their deals.
Ironically, another aspect of the use of the disabled player exception could pertain to Cousins. That’s due to the fact that signing a player to such a deal means that someone on the Lakers would have to be released, with Cousins being a strong candidate since he only signed a one-year deal with the club.
