Hoops Rumors Originals News & Rumors

Monday marks the renewal of 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 one of the league’s most reliable backup point guards. He’s putting up career highs in points (11.0) and assists (4.2) per game this season, the last on a two-year, $4.093MM contract he signed with the Pacers.

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 in 2013 kick-started a revival for the Birdman. He wound up signing for the rest of the season that year and played a key role on Miami’s championship team. Andersen reprised that role on a guaranteed minimum-salary contract last season, and that led the Heat to re-sign him this past summer to a two-year, $10.375MM deal.

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. Indiana traded him to Phoenix a year later, and he’s making a strong case to see even more on his next deal as he serves as a vital part of the Suns’ attack.

Still, the 10-day is usually a fleeting glimpse at NBA life for players on pro basketball’s fringe. Only a small 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 the player whom Green replaced on the Nets roster, chronicling what turned out to be only a brief passage through the league for 10-day signee Andre Emmett. 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 four years ago. Dowdell has been out of the NBA since that season.

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. Ten-day deals are almost always for a pro-rated portion of the minimum salary, though they can be for more. A minimum-salary 10-day contract for a rookie this season is worth $29,843. A one-year veteran would make $48,028. A minimum-salary 10-day deal with any veteran of two or more seasons would represent a cost of $53,838 to the team. Veterans of greater than two seasons would see more than that, but the league would pay the extra freight. However, teams gain no financial advantage if they eschew 10-day contracts with more experienced players to sign rookies or one-year veterans to 10-day deals in an effort to avoid the tax, as those deals count the same as the ones for two-year veterans when the league calculates a team’s salary for tax purposes.

Teams have to pay slightly more if they sign a player to a 10-day contract and they have fewer than three games on their schedule during that 10-day period. In those cases, the length of the 10-day contract is extended so that it covers three games for the team. It’s rare that any team would have such a light schedule, since most play at least three games a week, but the rule could come into play with this year’s new weeklong All-Star break. So, if a team plays only three games in a 12 day stretch, the player must receive at least 12/170ths of the minimum salary, rather than 10/170ths. Regardless of the length of a 10-day contract, the salary is guaranteed, even though the 10-day signee’s place on the roster isn’t assured. Teams may terminate 10-day contracts before they come to term, and that happened on several occasions last season, such as when the Cavs ended their 10-day contract with Shane Edwards a day early so they could sign Seth Curry to a 10-day deal instead. Players who see their 10-day contracts end early don’t go on waivers, so they become free agents immediately.

A team like the Raptors, who are perilously close to the tax threshold, may be wary of bringing anybody aboard via 10-day contract.  Other teams may make liberal use of 10-day deals. The Bulls, who played a game of limbo to duck the tax line last season, signed three players to 10-day contracts, as many as any team other than the Sixers, who employed an NBA-high five 10-day signees in 2013/14.

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 that if a team has a full 15-man roster, as many as three of those players may be on 10-day deals.

Veterans whom NBA teams have recently released, like Gal Mekel, Jorge Gutierrez and Shannon Brown, figure to draw consideration for 10-day contracts, as should notable players who’ve gone unsigned this season, like Kenyon Martin, Rashard Lewis and Ronnie Brewer. D-League standouts like Curry, Brady Heslip and Quincy Miller could all find paths to the NBA via 10-day contracts, and hopefuls from the D-League will make their cases to scouts at the five-day D-League showcase, which runs from January 15th-19th.

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.

Versions of this post were initially published on January 5th, 2013 and January 4th, 2014.

Hoops Rumors is in the process of ranking the cap hit for each NBA player by position. I previously ran down the point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center salaries for the 2014/15 season. I’ve also begun looking ahead to the 2015/16 campaign with a rundown of the cap hits for the point guards, shooting guards, and small forwards. Next on the agenda will be a look forward at the salaries for power forwards already inked to deals for next season.

All told, NBA teams have committed a total of $352,785,930 in cap hits so far for next season to the men manning the block around the league. The average hit for the four spot so far for 2015/16 is an extremely robust $5,427,476, with Chris Bosh of the Heat topping the list with an impressive $22,192,730 coming his way. However, it should be noted that the list and rankings will change greatly depending on how the free agent market develops next summer.

I also should add that teams won’t necessarily pay out every dollar listed here. There are quite a few players who have non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts. Some of those players will be sweating it out until the January 2015 deadline. That’s when teams must waive players with no specific guarantee date written into their contracts to avoid having to guarantee their salaries for the rest of that season.

Most salaries align with cap hits, but that’s not the case for players like Jeremy Lin , who’s receiving close to $15MM from the Lakers during the 2014/15 season even though his cap hit was little more than half that amount, because of the contract he signed through the Gilbert Arenas Provision. In addition, incentive clauses that a player either triggers or fails to meet can leave a player with more or less money than his cap hit reflects. Still, the purpose of this list is to show the relative pay scale by position, which is why all contracts are included in this post.

Hoops Rumors is in the process of ranking the cap hit for each NBA player by position. I previously ran down the point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center salaries for the 2014/15 season. I’ve also begun looking ahead to the 2015/16 campaign with a rundown of the cap hits for the point guards and shooting guards. Next on the agenda will be a look forward at the salaries for small forwards already inked to deals for next season.

All told, NBA teams have committed a total of $344,562,057 in cap hits so far for next season to the men manning the wing around the league. The average hit for the three spot so far for 2015/16 is a very healthy $6,380,779, with Joe Johnson of the Nets topping the list with an impressive $24,894,863 coming his way. However, it should be noted that the list and rankings will change greatly depending on how the free agent market develops next summer.

I also should add that teams won’t necessarily pay out every dollar listed here. There are quite a few players who have non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts. Some of those players will be sweating it out until the January 2015 deadline. That’s when teams must waive players with no specific guarantee date written into their contracts to avoid having to guarantee their salaries for the rest of that season.

Most salaries align with cap hits, but that’s not the case for players like Jeremy Lin , who’s receiving close to $15MM from the Lakers during the 2014/15 season even though his cap hit was little more than half that amount, because of the contract he signed through the Gilbert Arenas Provision. In addition, incentive clauses that a player either triggers or fails to meet can leave a player with more or less money than his cap hit reflects. Still, the purpose of this list is to show the relative pay scale by position, which is why all contracts are included in this post.

Three trades have happened within the past two weeks, and plenty more movement is likely to take place with a pair of key dates set for next week and the February 19th trade deadline drawing ever closer. You can follow all of the latest news and rumors as talks intensify with the new Trade Rumors app for iOS and Android devices!

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A slight majority of last season’s 10-day signees were under new contracts with NBA teams when we last checked on their whereabouts in September. That’s changed significantly in the last few months, with NBA teams set to once more be able to sign players to 10-day contracts beginning Monday. Only eight of the 41 who signed 10-day deals in 2013/14 are still on NBA rosters. Much larger contingents are in the D-League and playing overseas. A few are free agents, and a couple have retired.

It’s quite conceivable that many of those players who are no longer in the NBA will wind up signing 10-day deals again this season. There’s a decent chance that’s also the case for some of the eight who are still in the league, since most of them are on contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed. The leaguewide guarantee date of January 10th, which usually leads several teams to cut ties with players on non-guaranteed deals, looms next week, just days after teams can issue 10-day contracts again.

Here’s a look at what every player who signed a 10-day contract during the 2013/14 season is up to now:

NBA (8)

• Leandro Barbosa — Warriors
• Jared Cunningham — Clippers
• Dewayne Dedmon — Magic
• Drew Gooden — Wizards
• Justin Hamilton — Heat
• Cartier Martin — Pistons
• Darius Morris — Nets
• Shawne Williams — Heat

D-League (12)

• Chris Babb — Celtics D-League affiliate
• Vander Blue — Lakers D-League affiliate
• Seth Curry — Magic D-League affiliate
• Jorge Gutierrez — Cavaliers D-League affiliate
• Manny Harris — Lakers D-League affiliate
• Damion James — Mavericks D-League affiliate
• Mike James — Mavericks D-League affiliate
• Chris Johnson — Rockets D-League affiliate
• Orlando Johnson — Spurs D-League affiliate
• Arinze Onuaku — Cavaliers D-League affiliate
• Adonis Thomas — Pistons D-League affiliate
• Reggie Williams — Thunder D-League affiliate

Overseas (15)

• Hilton Armstrong — Turkey (Besiktas)
• Earl Clark — China (Shandong)
• Shane Edwards — Sweded (Sundsvall)
• Othyus Jeffers — Philippines (Talk N Text Tropang Texters)
• Darius Johnson-Odom — Italy (AV Cantu)
• DeAndre Liggins — Russia (Krasny Oktyabr)
• Tony Mitchell — Italy (Dolomiti Energia Trento)
• James Nunnally — Israel (Maccabi Ashdod)
• Dexter Pittman — Turkey (Aykon TED Kolejliler Ankara)
• Mustafa Shakur — Lithuania (Neptunas)
• D.J. Stephens — Russia (Zenit Saint Petersburg)
• Sasha Vujacic — Spain (Laboral Kutxa)
• Casper Ware — Germany (EWE Baskets Oldenburg)
• D.J. White — China (Fujian)
• Chris Wright — Poland (Turow Zgorzelec)

Free agents (4)

• Shannon Brown
• Jarvis Varnado
• Maalik Wayns
• Royce White

Retired (2)

• Jason Collins
• Royal Ivey

RealGM was used in the creation of this post.