10-Day Contracts
Usually, teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts on January 5th each year. Since tomorrow is a Sunday, the NBA will wait until Monday, the next business day, to renew the annual tradition of the ultimate on-the-job tryout in professional sports.
The 10-day contract has been the foot in the door for several players who’ve gone on to lengthy, successful NBA careers, like Anthony Mason, Bruce Bowen, Raja Bell, Kurt Rambis, Howard Eisley and several others. More recently, C.J. Watson saw his first NBA action on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Warriors in 2008, and he’s since blossomed into a premier backup point guard, having signed a two-year deal for about $4MM with the Pacers this past summer.
Ten-day deals also help veterans make comebacks. Chris Andersen languished in free agency for sixth months after the Nuggets used the amnesty clause to get rid of him, but a pair of 10-day contracts with the Heat kick-started a revival for the Birdman. He wound up signing for the rest of the season and played a key role on Miami’s championship team before landing much greater security with a two-year contract this past summer.
Similarly, former first-round pick Gerald Green had been out of the league for three years when he made a splash during his pair of 10-day deals with the Nets in 2011/12. That earned him a contract for the rest of the season, and he parlayed 12.9 points and 48.1% shooting in 25.2 minutes per game for the Nets into a three-year, $10.5MM contract with the Pacers the following summer.
Still, the 10-day is usually a fleeting glimpse at NBA life for players on pro basketball’s fringe. Only a fraction of last year’s 10-day signees remain in the league, as I noted earlier this season. Hunter Atkins of The New York Times followed another Nets player who signed a 10-day contract in 2011/12, chronicling Andre Emmett‘s brief return to the NBA. Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated took a similarly revealing look at the life of Zabian Dowdell as he tried to make the most of a 10-day with the Suns three years ago.
Teams can sign a player to as many as two 10-day contracts before committing to him for the rest of the season, or, as in many cases, turning him away. Clubs can terminate a 10-day contract at any time if they no longer want the player around. Ten-day deals are almost always for a pro-rated portion of the minimum salary, though agents and teams are free to negotiate the financial terms.
Usually, teams only have one player on a 10-day contract at a time, though they’re allowed to carry as many 10-day contracts as they have players on the inactive list. If a team has 13 players on the active list, it can carry one more 10-day contract than the number of inactive players it has, meaning a 15-man club could have as many as three guys on 10-day deals.
The 10-day salaries, however small, count for cap and luxury-tax purposes, so a team like the Celtics, who are perilously close to the tax threshold, may be wary of bringing anybody aboard by this method. Other teams may make liberal use of 10-day deals. The taxpaying Heat signed four players to a total of seven 10-day contracts, both NBA highs last season. The Mavericks came closest to matching that as they scrambled in vain in make the playoffs, inking four players to six 10-day deals.
Veterans who have recently been released from NBA teams, like Lou Amundson, Hilton Armstrong and Mike James, figure to draw consideration for 10-day contracts, as should notable players who’ve gone unsigned this season, like Richard Hamilton, Mickael Pietrus and Daniel Gibson. Recent D-League signees Terrence Williams, Von Wafer and Chris Smith could all see their way back to the NBA via 10-day contracts. NBA neophytes could merit 10-day deals, too, and many of them will be showing off to scouts at the five-day D-League showcase starting Sunday.
All season long, you can keep tabs on 10-day signings with the Hoops Rumors tracker. If you click “Filter,” you’ll see a menu of options that can display customized lists of 10-day signings dating back to the 2006/07 season.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
A version of this post was initially published on January 5th, 2013.
Lakers Rumors: Bynum, Gasol, Marshall
The Cavs are zeroing in on the Lakers as a potential trade partner for an Andrew Bynum deal, but it doesn’t appear as though the Lakers seem eager to play along. They believe there are ways of avoiding the luxury tax that don’t involve unloading Pau Gasol, and according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, they feel like it’s increasingly unlikely they’ll find middle ground with Cleveland (Twitter link). Here’s the latest from Lakerland as the team surveys its position:
- “Marshall Madness,” has lifted the Lakers, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. D-League pickup Kendall Marshall wasn’t seeing much playing time in his first five games on the roster, but injuries to Xavier Henry and Jordan Farmar forced coach Mike D’Antoni to call his number. Since then, he’s responded quite well and showed the kind of potential that made him a lottery pick just a couple of years ago. The point guard racked up 20 points and 15 assists in the Lakers’ 110-99 win over the Jazz on Friday.
- Marshall took notice when the Jazz cut Jamaal Tinsley and replaced him with Diante Garrett. “I know that the Jazz let go of a guard earlier this year and I didn’t get a call, so I kind of felt a certain way about that,” Marshall said, according to Bill Oram of the Orange County Register (on Twitter).
- Six-year NBA veteran and former Laker Von Wafer is headed to the D-League, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. Wafer last played in the NBA D-League in 2006, when the Lakers assigned him to the Fort Worth Flyers. He most recently played for the Shanghai Sharks, and averaged 27.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in five games. The 28-year-old will likely play during the NBA D-League Showcase, which is scheduled to begin Sunday.
- Pau-Orthez of France announced the signing of Eric Boateng, who spent camp with the Lakers this fall (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The 28-year-old center had been playing with La Union in Argentina, Carchia notes.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Chris Smith Signs To Play In D-League
Chris Smith has signed with the D-League, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. Smith reportedly wanted to take some time before deciding on his next move after the Knicks waived him this week, but apparently he made his choice quickly.
Smith appeared in six games this season for the Erie Bayhawks, the D-League affiliate of the Knicks, while he was under contract with New York, but he won’t necessarily wind up with Erie again. He’ll go through the league’s waiver process, meaning several clubs will have a shot at him. Regardless of where he ends up, he’ll be free to jump to the Knicks or any other NBA team at any time if he shows promise.
Of course, that seems an unlikely proposition for Smith, whom an NBA GM referred to as “maybe the worst player in the history of the Summer League,” according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Smith, a 6’2″ guard, put up 11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 24.7 minutes per game during his time with Erie this year.
Smith is the brother of Knicks swingman J.R. Smith, who appears to have gotten over his frustration with the team for releasing his brother.
Odds & Ends: Bynum, Gasol, Nash, Camby
Andrew Bynum‘s agent won’t get into specifics over what dissolved Bynum’s relationship with the Cavs, but it apparently wasn’t about his surroundings.
“Cleveland is not the problem. Cleveland is not a negative connotation,” agent David Lee said, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. “Andrew has shied away from publicity his entire life. He’s not a guy who needs the limelight. He lives in a simple neighborhood there. He walks his dog and rides his bike to the store. He goes to the movies by himself. Cleveland wasn’t a problem for him.”
While we wait to find out Bynum’s next destination, here’s the latest from around the NBA:
- The Lakers can envision ways of avoiding the luxury tax that don’t involve trading Pau Gasol, so that’s why they’re insisting they receive more than salary relief in any potential Gasol swap, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter links).
- Steve Nash acknowledged to fellow ESPNLosAngeles.com scribe Dave McMenamin that he’s a candidate to hit the waiver wire this summer if his health doesn’t improve. “I don’t know all the technical possibilities but obviously know that nothing is guaranteed,” Nash said. “Obviously right now I have a guaranteed contract, but the future is totally in flux and anything is possible in the NBA and frankly with my health.”
- Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (on Twitter) spoke with Marcus Camby‘s agent, who gave him an update on the big man’s status as he recovers from the foot injury that prompted the Rockets to waive him in October. “[He’s] doing well, still rehabbing and does plan on playing when he completes his rehab likely towards the end of the month,” the agent, presumably Rick Kaplan, said.
- Raptors GM Masai Ujiri isn’t necessarily looking to overhaul his club. “We’ll continue to evaluate the team. I know it’s what we keep saying but it’s been a huge encouragement by the way the team has played,” the GM said, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter links). “We want to be a good team. We want to be a winning team. But if it’s not that way, then we have to figure out a way to rebuild the team.“
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Deveney’s Latest: Miller, Hawks, Iguodala
Sean Deveney’s latest piece for The Sporting News focuses on Andre Iguodala‘s impact on the Warriors, timed appropriately enough since Iggy’s three-pointer at the buzzer gave the W’s a one-point win over the Hawks tonight. He passes along a few other tidbits of note, and we’ll start with those:
- The Nuggets are “a ways away” from trading Andre Miller, a source tells Deveney, adding that a deal would probably come closer to the February 20th trade deadline. Presumably, Deveney isn’t suggesting that Miller will probably be traded and is instead referring to the timing of any deal that might involve the 37-year-old. The Nuggets rescinded Miller’s suspension today, though a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that it was merely a gesture to allow Miller to receive his salary while he sits for two games (Twitter link).
- No moves that would help Atlanta’s front line are imminent, Deveney writes. The latest report we heard indicated that Hawks GM Danny Ferry was still deciding whether to pursue reinforcements in the wake of Al Horford‘s season-ending injury. The team apparently had talks with the Magic about Hedo Turkoglu before Orlando let go of the veteran small forward today.
- Deveney points out that Iguodala’s teams have a record of 142-89 (143-89 after tonight) over the past four years in games he plays, and 12-21 when he doesn’t. That was a reason why Golden State sought to acquire him this summer, Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob tells Deveney. “He is a winner,” Lacob said. “He knows how to win. Anyone you talked to about him, coaches or whoever it was, that was what they said.”
Latest On Hedo Turkoglu
The Magic decided to waive Hedo Turkoglu today after failing to find a trade that would net them either a young player or a draft pick, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Robbins also confirms that the Magic couldn’t convince the 34-year-old to accept a buyout and reduce his salary. The Magic fielded calls from both the Lakers and the Hawks about Turkoglu, a source told USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt, but neither was appetizing for the Magic. The deal with the Lakers would have resulted in more salary long term, and the Hawks proposal had no value, the source said.
Turkoglu is generating interest from several NBA teams, according to Can Pelister of Super Basket, a media outlet based in Turkoglu’s native Turkey (Twitter link). The small forward’s appeal apparently doesn’t carry over to the international market, since a Euroleague team has rejected Turkoglu’s entreaties, Pelister adds. It’s not clear how serious Turkoglu might be about joining a team overseas anyway, since a report earlier this week indicated that he’s intent on remaining in the NBA.
Turkoglu tweeted today that Orlando will always be his “second home,” and had plenty of kind words for the Magic and their fans, as Robbins conveys, so while a return to the Magic is out of the question, it seems he’s doing his best not to burn any NBA bridges. He’ll make $6MM from his partially guaranteed contract this season, but he’ll likely have to scrap for minimum-salary opportunities going forward if he is to find NBA work again.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Jordan Crawford Wants To Remain With Celtics
Jordan Crawford has become a candidate for the Most Improved Player of the Year award in his new role as point guard, and while he’s driving up his value as a restricted free agent this summer, he tells USA Today’s Sean Highkin that he’d like to stay with the Celtics.
“It’s an NBA thing,” Crawford said. “You’re supposed to think about being a free agent. It’s going to happen, so there’s nothing I can do to deny it. I definitely want to be here. But it’s the NBA. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Crawford has transformed from a reckless gunner into a playmaker this season, averaging a career-high 5.4 assists in place of the injured Rajon Rondo. It’s unclear what the Celtics plan to do with him once Rondo returns, but it’s clear that Crawford’s stock has risen since Boston acquired him at the deadline last season for Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collins, two players who are out of the league. The Celtics can match any team’s offer for the Creative Artists Agency client in the offseason if they extend him a qualifying offer of about $3.2MM. They could also simply sign him outright, which appears to be Crawford’s preference at this point.
The Hawks made Crawford the 27th overall pick in the 2010 draft and traded him to the Wizards in the middle of his rookie year. He averaged 14.7 points per game in his first full season in Washington, but he did so on just 40% shooting, and he shot 4.3 three-pointers per contest despite making only 28.9% of them. He still shoots threes at about the same rate, but his long-range accuracy has improved to 34.4% for this season.
Warriors, Kings Eyeing Andre Miller
Warriors and Kings executives are mulling the idea of trading for suspended Nuggets guard Andre Miller, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Denver nonetheless remains uninterested in dealing the 37-year-old, and the team intends to smooth over the issues that led to Miller’s punishment, Wojnarowski adds.
The Warriors are in the market for a backup point guard and have been talking to the Raptors for weeks about acquiring Kyle Lowry, sources tell Wojnarowski. The Knicks have also been persistent in their pursuit of Lowry, but the Raptors have become less willing to trade him in the wake of their recent success. Toronto hasn’t abandoned the idea of trading Lowry, but the team isn’t simply looking to unload him to the highest bidder, as Wojnarowski writes.
The Kings see Miller as a veteran mentor who could help Isaiah Thomas, and GM Pete D’Alessandro, a former Nuggets executive, is a longstanding admirer of Miller, Wojnarowski points out.
Miller makes $5MM this season, but next year’s $4.625MM salary is only guaranteed for $2MM, so he’d be easier to unload for a team that sours on him, wants to clear cap space, or both. It’s clear that the 15th-year veteran is slowing down. This season he’s seeing the fewest minutes per game of his career, and his points and assists per minute are also new lows.
Minimum-Salary Players Averaging 20+ MPG
The Lakers aren’t known for their bargain shopping on the free agent market, but this year, they scored an extraordinary number of contributors for the minimum salary. Five Lakers are averaging more than 20 minutes per game while making the minimum, including Nick Young, the team’s leading scorer and a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. Young might have found more money if he’d signed with another team, but the allure of playing for his hometown Lakers was too great. The team’s other low-paid rotation guys probably wouldn’t have been able to sign for a salary greater than the minimum elsewhere, so with them, it’s more a matter of GM Mitch Kupchak‘s eye for talent and Mike D’Antoni‘s coaching. Wesley Johnson, Xavier Henry, Jordan Farmar and Shawne Williams have all pitched in to help the team mitigate the loss of Kobe Bryant for all but six games so far this season. The Lakers are just 13-19, but they’d probably be much worse if not for their cut-rate five.
The Rockets have had much more success this season, with a 21-13 record, and while that has much to do with Dwight Howard and James Harden, the team’s pair of max contract players, three minimum-salary forces have emerged. Patrick Beverley is on the shelf with a broken hand, but when he’s played he’s notched 31.5 MPG, more than any other minimum-salary player in the league this year aside from Isaiah Thomas of the Kings. Omri Casspi and Francisco Garcia are also significant cogs for Houston, which would boast a fourth minimum-salary rotation player if Chandler Parsons‘ contract didn’t call for him to make only about $42K more than the minimum for a player with his experience.
Here’s every player in the NBA this season making the minimum salary and averaging at least 20 MPG entering today:
- Isaiah Thomas, Kings (31.9 MPG)
- Patrick Beverley, Rockets (31.5 MPG)
- P.J. Tucker, Suns (30.4 MPG)
- D.J. Augustin, Bulls (29.5 MPG)
- Khris Middleton, Bucks (29.3 MPG)
- James Anderson, Sixers (29.2 MPG)
- Nick Young, Lakers (28.1 MPG)
- Wesley Johnson, Lakers (26.4 MPG)
- Alan Anderson, Nets (25.3 MPG)
- Jeff Taylor, Bobcats (24.2 MPG)
- James Johnson, Grizzlies (23.1 MPG)
- Mike Miller, Grizzlies (22.9 MPG)
- Shaun Livingston, Nets (22.2 MPG)
- Xavier Henry, Lakers (21.8 MPG)
- Hollis Thompson, Sixers (21.2 MPG)
- Omri Casspi, Rockets (21.1 MPG)
- Francisco Garcia, Rockets (20.8 MPG)
- Jordan Farmar, Lakers (20.7 MPG)
- Shawne Williams, Lakers (20.6 MPG)
- DeJuan Blair, Mavericks (20.2 MPG)
- E’Twaun Moore, Magic (20.2 MPG)
- Anthony Tolliver, Bobcats (20.0 MPG)
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.
Atlantic Notes: Raptors, J.R. Smith, Rondo
The Raptors are 9-3 following the Rudy Gay trade, with impressive wins over the Thunder and the Pacers, who are tied for the best record in the NBA. It’s easy to portray last month’s trade of Gay to the Kings as addition by subtraction for Toronto, but that’s not how DeMar DeRozan sees it, as Eric Koreen of the National Post notes.
“You really can’t say that,” DeRozan said. “People will speculate and say this, that and the third about the trade. One thing: We still had a lot of talent before the trade. Things just weren’t clicking. We didn’t play a full season and figure it all out, either. This is our team now, and we’re steadily learning and growing every day.”
Koreen is skeptical that the departure of the statistically inefficient small forward hasn’t helped the team during its recent stretch, pointing to the improved play of DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas since the trade. Regardless, the Raptors have reached the .500 mark, putting them in command of a weak Atlantic Division. Here’s more from the Atlantic:
- J.R. Smith says he’s gotten over his frustration with the Knicks for waiving his brother, and that he’s “ready to go to war” with Jeremy Tyler, who replaced Chris Smith on the roster, observes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- It was Rajon Rondo who first proposed the idea of sending him down to the D-League, Celtics GM Danny Ainge said today on 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com passes along. It’s unclear whether the point guard will play for Boston’s D-League affiliate this season, but Ainge said he supports the notion of teams sending star players on rehab assignments.
- Celtics assistant coach Ron Adams shared his bitterness about Bulls GM Gar Forman‘s decision to let him go this past offseason with K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s still a bit mystifying to me,” Adams said. “And I don’t understand it. And if the intent was to be hurtful to me and my family, it succeeded.” The Celtics were one of a half-dozen teams with interest in Adams when Forman elected not to renew his contract, the sort of decision that usually rests with a team’s head coach.