The NBA has granted the Boston Celtics a disabled-player exception for the likely season-ending loss of Gordon Hayward, league sources told The Vertical.

The Celtics’ exception is worth $8.4 million and expires on March 10. Boston can use it to sign a player to a one-year contract or acquire a player within that salary in the last season of his deal.

Hayward had surgery last week to repair a dislocated left ankle and fractured left tibia that occurred during the Celtics’ season-opening loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 17.

Boston is 3-2 this season and has relied upon the swift development of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in Hayward’s absence.