How A Disabled Player Exception For Ariel Hukporti Could Help The Sixers

The Sixers’ backup big man plans went up in smoke when Ariel Hukporti suffered a torn Achilles tendon in their preseason opener. They’re only $1.8 million below their first-apron hard cap, which means they can’t even sign anyone to a minimum contract other than an undrafted free agent for now. That has them stuck in a holding pattern until December at the earliest.

Sixers president Mike Gansey isn’t just sitting on his hands until then, though. On Tuesday, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that the Sixers have applied for a Disabled Player Exception for Hukporti.

If/when that gets granted, the DPE will be for $1.7 million (50 percent of his salary this year). That might sound relatively inconsequential—and it is for the time being—but it could be sneaky useful to the Sixers later in the year.

Once the regular season begins, rest-of-season veteran-minimum contracts begin to prorate downward on a daily basis. They’re dropping by roughly $14,000 per day this season, which is why the Sixers will have enough space under the hard cap to sign someone to a vet-min deal by early December.

But if Gansey’s front office works like that of his predecessor, Daryl Morey, the Sixers may aim to preserve their optionality through the trade deadline. By that point, rest-of-season vet-min deals will be less than $1 million.

As long as their main stars stay ambulatory until then, the Sixers should be in prime position to scoop up ring-chasers either at the trade deadline or on the free-agent/buyout markets. They’ll be vying with other title hopefuls for those players’ services, though, which means they may need to differentiate themselves somehow.

If the Sixers aim to fill their final open roster spot with a big man, they can use the allure of playing time to their advantage. After all, Joel Embiid is unlikely to suit up for a single back-to-back this year, and the Sixers have four of them in March alone. However, that alone might not be enough to outbid other teams, some of whom still have portions of their respective mid-level exceptions available.

That’s where the Hukporti DPE could come in handy. The Sixers have just enough space under the first apron to use the full DPE and stay under the hard cap, provided they don’t make any other roster changes. That would allow them to offer someone up to $1.7 million on a rest-of-season deal instead of less than $1 million.

That might not sound like a huge difference, but if a player is choosing between multiple minimum contracts, every little bit could help. And since LeBron James already called dibs on the Fanatics helicopter, the Sixers will have to find other ways to entice potential signees later in the season.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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