The Pelicans have applied for a Disabled Player Exception due to Kira Lewis‘ season-ending knee injury, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets.
Lewis suffered a torn ACL and a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee earlier this month against Denver.
A DPE allows a team to sign a player without using cap space. If a player is seriously injured, his team can apply for the disabled player exception to replace him.
If granted, the disabled player exception allows a club to sign a replacement player for 50% of the injured player’s salary, or for the amount of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, whichever is lesser.
In Lewis’ case, he’s making $3,822,240 this season, so the DPE will be worth approximately $1.91 million.
The 13th overall pick of the 2020 draft, Lewis appeared in 24 games this season (14.2 MPG) and averaged 5.9 PPG, 1.5 RPG, and 2.0 APG with a .404/.224/.805 shooting line.
The Pelicans exercised their third-year option on Lewis before the season, so his salary will be guaranteed through next season.
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