After releasing Alfonzo McKinnie and Tyler Cook earlier this week, the Cavaliers have now brought back both players on 10-day contracts. Cleveland announced its new 10-day deal with Cook this afternoon in a press release after re-signing McKinnie earlier in the day.
Cook, 22, has spent most of his rookie season playing for the Cavs’ G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, as part of a two-way contract. He averaged 12.6 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 15 NBAGL games (20.7 MPG) before being briefly promoted to the 15-man roster. Cleveland converted his two-way pact to a standard deal on January 3 before waiving him on January 6. While he was only on his standard contract for a few days, he received a $50K partial guarantee.
Cook and McKinnie had non-guaranteed contracts that would have become fully guaranteed if they had remained on the roster through Tuesday. By waiving them and bringing them back on 10-day deals, the Cavaliers will retain some financial flexibility. McKinnie’s 10-day pact will count against the cap for approximately $92K, while Cook’s will be worth just $51K.
[RELATED: 10-Day Contract Tracker]
Cleveland will also have some roster flexibility as a result of the new deals. The 15-man roster is full for now, but if the team wants to open up a spot or two to accommodate a trade before the deadline, it can simply opt not to re-sign McKinnie and/or Cook when their 10-day contracts expire. Both deals will run through January 18.