Filings could end two seasons
PHOENIX —The impact of knee injuries to Jonathan Isaac and Al-Farouq Aminu could stretch beyond just their absence from the Orlando Magic’s lineup.
The team reportedly has requested disabled player exceptions with the league for both Isaac and Aminu that, if granted, would allow the Magic to add a player to their roster.
The requests also could mean the seasons are over for Isaac and Aminu.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic first reported via Twitter Thursday the Magic had filed the applications.
An NBA team can apply for a disabled player exception to replace a seriously injured player. According to noted NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement authority Larry Coon in his CBA FAQ, the “exception is granted by the league, based on an application from the team and a determination by an NBA-designated physician or Fitness to Play panel … that the player is substantially more likely than not to be unable to play through the following June 15.”
If the Magic are granted the exceptions, they could sign a replacement player for 50% of the injured players’ salaries. That would be worth close to $4.6 million for Aminu and about $2.9 million for Isaac, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN.
It’s important to note the exception does not create a roster spot for a team. It merely allows a team to use part of an injured player’s salary to sign another player.
The Magic have one roster spot available, so they are in position to sign one player. They cannot sign a player to replace both Isaac and Aminu, even if both exceptions are granted.
The Magic also had nearly $5.6 million cleared from their books after the NBA approved the team’s career-ending injury/illness waiver request for Timofey Mozgov.
Teams can apply for this exception from July 1 through Jan. 15 and cannot apply after Jan. 15, according to Coon.
He notes an approved exception expires when a new player is acquired, when the disabled player is traded or returns to the team, or on March 10 of the season when the request is made, whichever comes first.
While Orlando hasn’t provided specific recovery timetables for Isaac and Aminu, applying for disabled player exemptions appears to provide a broader sense that their injuries could be season-ending.
The Magic first indicated Isaac, who injured his knee
Jan. 1, would be re-evaluated in eight to 10 weeks.
The team said Aminu, who underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, would be re-evaluated in 12 weeks. He was first injured Nov. 29 and was trying to recover without surgery but suffered a setback in that process when his knee locked up during a recent practice.
President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman acknowledged the team began to look at the possibility of signing a 15th player after Isaac’s injury.
“We’re having those discussions,” he said last week. “We’re trying to figure out how we proceed to go forward here, but we believe that we have enough on this roster right now to remain competitive. Next man up. We feel we can be a strong defensive team and we have a coaching staff and players that are motivated to plug holes and step up, and we have a very competitive group that expects to compete. Obviously, we have right now two players out, so we have to assess rosterwise where we need help and what’s really reasonable to expect. There’s no sense in doing something just to figuratively plug a hole but not really impact the team. So those are the things that we’re trying to study now.”