10-Day Contract Trends In 2015/16

The NBA regular season has fewer than 10 days remaining, so the 10-day contract signing period is over, as The Vertical’s Bobby Marks points out (Twitter link). The book on 10-day signings isn’t completely closed, since it remains to be seen if some of those who signed the short-term deals will end up latching on for the rest of the season. That’s expected to be the case for at least one player who’s still on a 10-day contract, as James Ennis is reportedly poised to re-sign with the Pelicans.

Regardless, we now can look at a few trends, facts and other noteworthy developments that emerged from this year’s batch of 10-day pacts, with the help of our 10-Day Contract Tracker:

• Teams signed 33 players to 10-day contracts this year, down from 48 last year and the fewest since 2012, when 32 players received 10-day deals.
• The Grizzlies signed more players to 10-day contracts than any other team, with eight. The Suns were next with six, and the Pelicans signed five. Orlando Johnson signed 10-day contracts with both Phoenix and New Orleans.
• Johnson, Lorenzo Brown (Pistons and Suns), Sean Kilpatrick (Nets and Nuggets), Jordan McRae (Cavs and Suns) and Alex Stepheson (Clippers and Grizzlies) all signed 10-day contracts with multiple teams.
• One of McRae’s two 10-day pacts with Phoenix was actually a 12-day contract. That’s because all 10-day deals have to cover at least three games. If a team signs a player to a 10-day contract and it doesn’t play at least three games over the next 10 days, the contract runs as long as necessary to get three games in. The NBA’s lengthy All-Star break was the reason for the extra two days on McRae’s deal, which was worth $37,065 instead of the $30,888 he would have seen on a regular 10-day.
• Teams ended 10-day contracts early on five occasions last season, but that only happened once this year, when the Sixers released Christian Wood on just the fourth day of his contract to claim Sonny Weems. Philly later reversed course on that decision, cutting Weems to sign Wood to a second 10-day contract.
• Impact Sports and Octagon were the leading agencies involved with 10-day contracts this year, landing 10-day deals for four clients apiece. Impact client Jeff Ayres went on to sign for the rest of the season with the Clippers, while Octagon’s Alan Williams did the same with the Suns.