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On Monday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the Washington Wizards have applied for the disabled player exception. The move is in response to Thomas Bryant’s torn ACL injury, which is expected to sideline him for the rest of the 2020-21 NBA season.
The Washington Wizards are planning to apply for a $4.2M Disabled Player Exception with the season-ending injury to Thomas Bryant, sources tell ESPN. Once granted, the Wizards can use the spot to acquire a player for the rest of the season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 11, 2021
The Wizards will have up to $4.2 million to sign an extra player to the roster if approved. That should help them shore up the center position, where the best options in the short term are currently Anzejs Pasecniks and Moritz Wagner, neither of whom were expected to be longer term options for the team.
It will be difficult for any center to fill in Bryant’s shoes. He was averaging 14.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, but these numbers are actually skewed a bit negatively. That’s because Bryant only played about two minutes before suffering his knee injury last Saturday when they played the Miami Heat.
The Wizards are 2-8 at the moment and the last thing they need besides coronavirus scares and poor play is injuries. So hopefully they get the injury exception in the coming days.