Im not really giving an opinion, I am just trying to let people know how the DPE works since it is a often misunderstood exception. You can pretend that the criteria is something different than it is, it doesn’t overly affect me. But the fact is, Saric went down with a torn on July 7th 2021. The average time out for a torn ACL is a shade under 10 months. To qualify for the DPE an independent doctor, appointed by the nba, reviews the medical information and determines if there is a chance that they could be medically cleared by June 15, 2022 (over 11 months after Saric’s injury). The deadline to apply is January 15th 2022 (5 months before the cut off date). The doctor doesn’t “listen to the athlete”, or get influenced by the team, they are kinda like an insurance adjuster. Without a clear medical setback, which there hasn’t been, getting a DPE for Saric was highly unlikely from the start. Now, do I think Saric will return this season? Absolutely not. I can’t imagine the Suns trying to ease Saric back into the lineup during the playoffs. Also, if I was Saric I would probably want to take the offseason to insure that everything was 110% copacetic. But neither of those two things have even 1% affect on the DPE.
The DPE isn’t exactly the most exciting thing in the world, and I would just assume not have to explain it anymore. I am just trying to pass along information and extinguish misinformation.