SATURDAY, 9:44am: The signing is official, the Hawks announced in a press release.
1:55pm: Next year’s salary will be non-guaranteed, according to Vivlamore (Twitter link).
12:53pm: Daye’s new contract will cover next season as well, Vivlamore also reports (on Twitter).
12:22pm: The Hawks will indeed sign Daye, Vivlamore confirms (Twitter link).
12:05pm: Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer didn’t confirm that the team would sign Daye for the season, but he dropped a hint, saying, “I would say he’s in a good place,” as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution relays.
FRIDAY, 11:42am: The Hawks are expected to sign Austin Daye through at least the end of the season, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Daye’s second 10-day contract with the team expires overnight tonight.
Daye’s playing time has been sparse during his time with Atlanta, as he’s averaged 3.0 points in 6.6 minutes per game across five appearances. He saw 10.3 MPG in 26 games with San Antonio earlier this season, but the last time he averaged double figures in that category was 2012/13, the season the Pistons traded him to the Grizzlies. That ended a tenure with Detroit that began when the team made him the 15th overall pick in 2009. The veteran small forward won’t offer the Hawks much in the way of playoff experience, since he’s only played a total of 26 postseason minutes.
Atlanta’s other 14 players already have contracts that carry through the end of this season or beyond, but the team has retained flexibility with its other roster spot since trading Adreian Payne, the No. 15 pick from 2014, to the Timberwolves in early February. It originally seemed as though the club had made the trade in part to clear room on the roster to ink sought-after free agent Ray Allen, but he decided against playing in the NBA this season. The Hawks have cycled through 10-day contracts with Daye and Jarell Eddie instead, as our 10-Day Contract Tracker shows, but now it appears they’ve settled on Daye.