Taj Gibson‘s second 10-day contract with the Knicks expired overnight, making him an unrestricted free agent once again. The 10-day deals signed by Raptors forwards Justise Winslow and Mouhamadou Gueye on February 10 also expired overnight.
Both the Knicks and Raptors are now below the NBA-mandated minimum of 14 players on standard contracts and will have to re-add players to their roster in the near future.
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Teams are permitted to dip below 14 players for up to two weeks at a time, but because Gibson was only the Knicks’ 13th man and New York has actually been carrying fewer than 14 players since February 8, the club will have to make two roster additions by this Thursday (Feb. 22).
One of those additions could be Gibson, but since he has already signed two 10-day contracts with the Knicks, the team would have to give him a rest-of-season deal to bring him back.
The Raptors, meanwhile, are now at 13 players and will have until March 5 to fill at least one of the two openings on their 15-man roster. Given that Toronto has a good amount of flexibility below the luxury tax line and will likely want take a longer look at some young players, I wouldn’t expect the team to take the full two weeks to fill one or both of those open roster spots. For what it’s worth, both Winslow and Gueye are eligible to sign one more 10-day deal with the team.
Three other 10-day contracts around the NBA remain active — Zhaire Smith‘s deal with the Cavaliers runs through this Thursday, as does Tosan Evbuomwan‘s agreement with the Pistons. Jordan Goodwin‘s contract with the Grizzlies will cover one extra day, running through Friday.
All three of those contracts will actually remain active for more than 10 days, since 10-day contracts must cover at least three games. Smith, Evbuomwan, and Goodwin each only got two games before the All-Star break, so their “10-day” deals will actually cover 11 or 12 days. That wasn’t the case for Gibson, Winslow, or Gueye, as the Knicks and Raptors each played three contests between Feb. 10 and the start of the All-Star break.
Please, Thibs, just give Taj a clipboard. Use the last three roster spots wisely. None of the two-way players have earned a promotion. Add three guys who can contribute something on the court. A stretch big, a wing defender, a steady point guard. Maybe JaMychal Green, Danuel House, and Cory Joseph.
Cory Joseph is bad now, do not recommend.
JaMychal hasn’t played all year.
House sucks and won’t play over OG/Hart/Bogey.
Joseph sucks and won’t play > Burks/McBride.
Gibson is fine to use a spot on, there are way worse locker room guys and Thibs doesn’t go past his 10th man regardless of who signs.
They’re probably promoting Two-Ways to non-guaranteed deals for off-season trade matching purposes as they did with DaQuan Jeffries.
Cavs should sign Taj just to mess with Thibs…4d chess up in Cleveland
That would require Taj to want to go there. He’s a NY native. CLE gonna offer more than minimum as WAS did?
Taj is good mentorship for the Knicks or someone, Noel would be good for the Knicks .
Goodwill played alright it seems for Memphis. Memphis needs to look at SFS and Cs the same age as Morant, Jackson and Bane
Toronto should sign Killian Hayes, John Butler and Kai Jones to develop.
Detroit should waive Brown, Flynn and nuggs no Shake please. Sign Ish Smith and Danny Green.
Winslow and Smith didn’t play one minute
Having the 10 day contracts expire is part of the cap game. I expect Taj to sign (rest of the season deal) on Thursday.
NYK, presumably, are looking for usable depth pieces in light of their injuries. Taj (13) and Noel (14), if in condition, work. Not sure if the 15th slot needs to be filled right now. I’d leave it open to see if the big guy(s) they do sign immeidately get injured. Happens all the time, and I would be particularly worried about Noel in that regard.