Grizzlies analyst drops hot take on recently acquired DPEs

Wednesday, the Memphis Grizzlies were awarded a $12.5 million disabled player exception by the NBA following the season-ending shoulder surgery of superstar centerpiece, Ja Morant, making it their second time receiving such a luxury this year alone -- Steven Adams' knee surgery back in October netted the franchise a $6.3 million exception.

With this, the team can now look to sign a player in free agency, claim one off of waivers, or even trade for one whose contract fits into the confines of the allotted amount of salary all without having it negatively affect their cap.

Though the possibilities are quite vast when it comes to how GM Zach Kleiman and company could go about taking advantage of these exceptions, during a recent episode of the Locked on Grizzlies podcast, host Joe Mullinax issued a rather hot take on how he believes the club should best utilize them.

His advice: Let them expire.

Memphis Grizzlies analyst urges team to not use DPEs

"They're useful tools potentially and if the right deal comes along you use them but I don't want to do anything that takes GG Jackson minutes at the NBA level away aside from his own two-way contract and not being able to convert him in another way. I don't want to do anything that takes away from seeing if Vince Williams Jr. can truly be a top-eight rotation guy, which means a playoff rotation guy when this Grizzlies team is trying to be good next season... If these disabled player exceptions come in [and] if you use that guy and actually play them it could inhibit that some. "

- Joe Mullinax

Since the likes of Morant, Desmond Bane, and Marcus Smart were relegated to the sidelines due to injury earlier this month, both of these aforementioned players have seen a drastic uptick in playing time and, in turn, have managed to produce admirably in their increased roles within the rotation.

For Jackson, over his last six outings he finds himself posting highly impressive averages of 13.0 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 58.1 percent from the floor and 56.0 percent from distance.

Williams, meanwhile, just recently inked a full-scale, multi-year deal with the Grizzlies as a result of his play and, over his last six outings, has gone on to post a sensational stat-line of 18.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.8 steals, and just shy of a block per game while shooting 54.8 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from distance.

Because of this type of production from both of these players, as well as several other two-way talents such as Jacob Gillyard and Scottie Pippen Jr., Mullinax feels that adding a fresh new face via the disabled player exception runs the risk of taking valuable minutes away from these developing young prospects.

Though he admitted he wouldn't be totally opposed to seeing the Grizzlies strike on some sort of transaction involving their two luxuries, should it fall short of a "too good to pass up" type of ordeal, the Grizzlies analyst believes the team is better off letting them expire.