While 10-day deals using the hardship exception can be signed at any time, this coming Monday represents the first day this season that an NBA team will be able to sign a player to a standard 10-day contract. As we explain in a glossary entry, a 10-day deal allows a club to temporarily add a player to its 15-man roster without any commitments beyond those 10 days.
Under the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, all 10-day contracts are worth a player’s minimum salary. The minimum salary in a given season differs from player to player, based on his years of NBA service entering the season. For instance, in 2025/26, a rookie on a full-season minimum deal will earn $1,272,870, whereas a 10-year veteran who is earning the minimum will make $3,634,153.
[RELATED: NBA Minimum Salaries For 2025/26]
The same is true for 10-day deals. A rookie will earn significantly less over the course of his 10 days with a team than a tenured NBA veteran will.
Because the 2025/26 regular season is 174 days long, a player’s full-season minimum salary can be divided by 174 to calculate his daily salary. From there, it’s just a matter of multiplying by 10 to determine his salary on a 10-day contract.
Using that formula, here’s the full breakdown of what salaries for 10-day deals look like in ’25/26:
| Years in NBA | Salary |
|---|---|
| 0 | $73,153 |
| 1 | $117,730 |
| 2 | $131,970 |
| 3 | $136,717 |
| 4 | $141,463 |
| 5 | $153,330 |
| 6 | $165,197 |
| 7 | $177,064 |
| 8 | $188,932 |
| 9 | $189,872 |
| 10+ | $208,859 |
Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger options, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of service to 10-day, minimum-salary contracts.
In those instances, teams are on the hook for $131,970, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience, while the NBA covers the difference. So a team would pay the same amount and carry the same cap hit ($131,970) whether they sign a player with three years under his belt or a player with 12 years of NBA experience.
Something to keep in mind for the handful of teams brushing up against the first or second apron: 10 day contracts, whether standard or hardship, almost always count against the cap for the 2 year veteran amount of 131,970, unless the team had draft rights to the player and this was his very first NBA contract.
Came here to add this. The rule exists to protect GMs from themselves, otherwise some idiot would just cycle guys from the local Y through the end of bench spots to save a few nickels.
My Knicks have made it their signature to bring back in trades the draft rights to Eurostashes with zero NBA future. I’m hoping that one day they sign one of these guys to save some nickels (and piss off Adam Silver)
Being pedantic here, but just to make sure there’s no confusion: First- or second-year free agents who sign 10-day contracts count for $131,970 for tax/apron purposes, even though their CAP hits are lower.
Example: The Pacers are carrying $73,153 on their cap as a result of Gabe McGlothan’s 10-day contract, but for the purposes of calculating their position relative to the tax line and aprons, $131,970 would be the figure used for McGlothan.
Ooh, it’s even more arcane than I thought. Not at all pedantic. Thanks!