Amid the massive influx of players testing positive for the coronavirus, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are discussing a plan that would require teams affected by COVID-19 to add replacement players, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Baxter Holmes write.
The duo write that NBA owners are desperate to avoid postponements and cancellations, and they have come to an agreement on a plan to essentially update the hardship exception, but it must be approved by the NBPA as well.
The proposed plan would follow the same initial requirements as the hardship exception: Four players need to be sidelined (either by injury or COVID) in order to sign a replacement player, but any teams with five-or-more players out would be required to sign additional players, in order to ensure teams have the minimum of eight players available.
So, four players out: replacement player available, but not required. Five players out: one replacement required. Six out, two required. Seven out, three required. A maximum of three replacement players would be available. All replacement players would be on 10-day contracts, the same as the current hardship exception.
Under the proposed plan, the 10-day replacement players would not count against the salary cap or luxury tax, which is a significant change for teams, according to Wojnarowski and Holmes.
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