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Checking In On 2017’s 10-Day Contracts

March 2nd, 2017 at 10:06am CST by Luke Adams

So far this season, 26 players have signed at least one 10-day contract with an NBA team. Some players who have received 10-day deals, such as David Nwaba, had never appeared in a regular season game before getting their shot on a short-term contract. Others, like Toney Douglas, are proven veterans who have used 10-day contracts to show that they still have something to offer an NBA club.

Our 10-day tracker provides several interesting details about the short-term contracts signed by NBA players so far this year, so let’s dive in and take a closer look…

Players who have turned 10-day contracts into full-season deals:

Quincy Acy (Nets)
Joel Anthony (Spurs)
Toney Douglas (Grizzlies)
Yogi Ferrell (Mavericks)
Ronnie Price (Suns)
Okaro White (Heat)

Of the players on the list above, who turned 10-day auditions into full-season commitments, Ferrell was the only player who signed just one 10-day contract before inking a rest-of-season deal. The others signed two 10-day contracts before being locked up for the season.

Of course, in Ferrell’s case, the Mavs certainly must have been sold on his potential before his first 10-day pact expired — he scored in the double digits in all but one game during that stretch, including a 32-point outburst in Portland.

Chasson Randle (Sixers) and Lamar Patterson (Hawks) also earned full-season contracts from their teams after a pair of 10-day deals, but have since been waived. Meanwhile, Derrick Williams (Cavaliers) is on track to remain with Cleveland for the rest of the season once his second 10-day contract expires.

Players who have signed 10-day contracts with more than one team:

Johnny O’Bryant (two with Nuggets, one with Hornets)
Briante Weber (two with Warriors, one with Hornets)

Interestingly, both players that have signed 10-day contracts with two separate teams are currently with the Hornets. That may just be a coincidence, but it’s also very possible that the Hornets scouted O’Bryant and Weber during their 20-day stints in Denver and Golden State respectively, and liked what they saw enough to roll the dice on the duo themselves.

Although players can only sign up to two 10-day deals with the same team, there’s no limit to the number of teams they can join. O’Bryant and Weber could theoretically sign 10-day contracts with a couple more clubs before season’s end.

Teams that have used 10-day contracts the most this season:

Charlotte Hornets (4 players, 6 contracts)
Dallas Mavericks (4 players, 5 contracts)
New Orleans Pelicans (3 players, 3 contracts)

The Hornets have auditioned four players on short-term deals and have yet to find a keeper — none of their 10-day signings have turned into full-season contracts. The Mavericks found a guy they liked in Ferrell and continue to look at other young players. As for the Pelicans, they didn’t sign any 10-day deals until after the DeMarcus Cousins trade — now they’re carrying three at once as they attempt to identify guards that can help the club make a push for a playoff spot.

Players currently on 10-day contracts:

Derrick Williams (Cavaliers): Expires at end of day on March 3.
Hollis Thompson (Pelicans): Expires at end of day on March 4.
Johnny O’Bryant (Hornets): Expires at end of day on March 5.
Jarrett Jack (Pelicans): Expires at end of day on March 5.
Reggie Williams (Pelicans): Expires at end of day on March 6.
Axel Toupane (Bucks): Expires at end of day on March 6.
Quinn Cook (Mavericks): Expires at end of day on March 7.
Ben Bentil (Mavericks): Expires at end of day on March 7.
Briante Weber (Hornets): Expires at end of day on March 8.
David Nwaba (Lakers): Expires at end of day on March 9.

Williams, who is on his second 10-day contract, will be re-signed for the rest of the season, but the other players on this list are on their first 10-day deals of the season. So if they’re re-signed by their current teams, they’ll likely get a second 10-day deal before receiving a full-season commitment.

DeMarcus Cousins Suspended One Game By NBA

February 28th, 2017 at 1:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Less than a week after making his debut for the Pelicans, DeMarcus Cousins is facing his first suspension as a member of the team. The NBA announced today in a press release that, after receiving his 18th technical foul of the season on Sunday, Cousins has been suspended for one game without pay.

NBA rules call for an automatic one-game suspension after a player’s 16th technical foul of the season, plus additional one-game bans for every two technical fouls after that. Cousins was initially suspended for one game earlier this month as a member of the Kings after picking up his 16th technical of the 2016/17 campaign. He has since been hit with two more techs.

Cousins will miss the Pelicans’ next game on Wednesday night against the Pistons. He’ll also lose 1/110th of his salary for the season, the usual amount for a single-game suspension. Based on his salary of nearly $17MM, that works out to about $154K.

Knicks To Target Jrue Holiday In Free Agency?

February 28th, 2017 at 8:57am CST by Luke Adams

Some members of the Knicks organization view Jrue Holiday as a free agent target for the club this summer, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPN.com. As Begley points out, team president Phil Jackson displayed interest in trading for Holiday earlier in his tenure in New York, so it makes sense that the veteran point guard would be on the Knicks’ radar in the offseason.

After missing the start of the season due to a personal matter, Holiday has appeared in 45 games for the Pelicans in 2016/17, averaging 15.9 PPG and 7.4 APG to go along with a .457/.374/.705 shooting line. The 26-year-old is in the final year of his current contract, putting him in line to hit the open market this summer.

Although there are a number of big-name free agent point guards set to hit the market in July, many of those players – such as Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, and Kyle Lowry – are viewed as highly likely to re-sign with their current teams. That could leave a player like Holiday as one of the top options left on the board, though New Orleans is expected to make a strong effort to lock him up. Holiday acknowledged last week that the Pelicans view him as a part of their future along with Anthony Davis and newly-acquired DeMarcus Cousins.

The Knicks have a free-agent-to-be point guard of their own on the roster, with Derrick Rose on an expiring deal. Earlier in the season, it appeared that there might be mutual interest between Rose and the Knicks in a contract extension, but the odds of Rose remaining in New York long-term seem to have declined since then.

Here are a few more Knicks notes:

On Monday, head coach Jeff Hornacek “firmly denied” that the Knicks had moved into tank mode, as Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “Who says we’re trying to lose?” Hornacek said. “As a team we’re not thinking about losing. We’re still trying to win. Brandon [Jennings] being waived doesn’t mean [not] trying to win games. We feel Ron Baker can fill right in. It’s a different dynamic. He can control things and provide defense.”
According to Berman, the Knicks recognized that Jennings was “unhappy” with his role in New York and that he would have been upset if his playing time had been reduced down the stretch. A source tells Berman that the Knicks felt the veteran guard was “no longer a fit” with the team, leading to his release. “Brandon wanted to play more minutes here,” Hornacek said. “With Derrick here, it made it awfully tough.”
As Berman explains, even if the Knicks’ interest in re-signing Rose this summer is limited, the team may hang onto him until season’s end to keep his cap hold on the books, in case it can help accommodate a sign-and-trade.

Pressure Rises In Wake Of Cousins Trade

February 26th, 2017 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

The pressure is rising in New Orleans after losses in DeMarcus Cousins‘ first two games with the Pelicans, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. Many observers anointed New Orleans as the favorite to grab the West’s eighth playoff spot after Monday’s trade, but the Pelicans were embarrassed Thursday at home by the Rockets, then faded late in Saturday’s loss at Dallas. They are now 3 1/2 games behind the Nuggets for the eighth spot with 23 games remaining. Cousins had a spectacular game in his debut with 27 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, five steals and four blocks, but scored 12 points on just nine shots last night.

Pelicans commentator David Wesley says Cousins and Anthony Davis haven’t figured out how to co-exist on the court. “Right now, the spacing of the floor is not there,” Wesley said during Saturday’s game. “And with DeMarcus, Anthony, whoever is on the block that’s trying to operate, there are no lanes to operate with. There are no spaces right now to drive the basketball for the guards or the perimeter players. And they’re going to have to figure that out. This is [the] team they have.”

Depth at the wing positions could be a problem in New Orleans for the rest of the season, notes Justin Verrier of ESPN.com. The trade for Cousins sent Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway to Sacramento, and Omri Casspi, who was acquired from the Kings, broke his right thumb in his first game and has been released. The Pelicans will have to get by with temporary acquisitions like Reggie Williams, who signed a 10-day contract Saturday.

Kings’ GM Divac Explains DeMarcus Cousins Trade

February 26th, 2017 at 10:03am CST by Arthur Hill

Kings GM Vlade Divac explains his comments about having a better offer for DeMarcus Cousins two days before the deal in an interview with Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee about last week’s shocking trade.

Divac says the offer came from the Pelicans, who were proposing Buddy Hield and two first-round picks, rather than the final package of Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and this year’s first- and second-rounders. He blames the center’s agents, Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana, for driving down Cousins’ price.

“I talked to DeMarcus’ agents to inform them we were having talks, negotiating terms, and they called teams and threatened them,” Divac explained, “saying that if Cousins was traded, he would not sign an extension. [The Pelicans] got scared and dropped it down to a second-round pick. I thought if I waited longer, I would get less. I needed to act.”

Divac also addressed the urgency created by a possible extension for Cousins, recent comments about keeping the big man in Sacramento and the decision to waive Matt Barnes in a wide-ranging discussion. Here are some highlights:

On the decision to pull the trigger on the trade to New Orleans:

“It was a lot of things, but basically, I thought it was time to start over. There was a lot of bad stuff happening here the last five years, a lot of bad habits. There were always issues, many you don’t even know about. Now I believe strongly this was the right thing to do for our future. Now I have a clear vision. This city deserves better, and I want to create that. With DeMarcus’ situation, I basically was stuck.”

Divac explains the stuck comment by noting that the Kings were looking at another non-playoff season with the prospect of either giving Cousins a massive extension this summer or trying to trade him with an expiring contract, which Divac believes would have scared teams away.

On a statement to ESPN earlier this month that Cousins was staying in Sacramento:

“Because I really did not have [good offers] for DeMarcus. In all the conversations I was having with GMs, we weren’t going to get anything. People were scared because of his history. So I felt confident he was going to stay with us, and I was going to work with him, and we would do the best we can. But then I got the offer from the Pelicans a few days before the All-Star Game. That was a difference of, what, two weeks from what I had said to ESPN? Everything changed.”

On recommending anger management therapy for the sometimes volatile star:

“Actually, that happened, and this time, they seemed more receptive. But I wasn’t sure if that was because the contract was coming up or what, so I wasn’t sure how to take it. Again, I wanted change, to start over. Acquire assets, build it right. At the same time play hard, play up-tempo, share the ball. Be a team, grow together.”

On releasing Barnes, who was waived Monday to open a roster spot and allow the deal to be completed:

“I want to build a culture, and he didn’t fit in my culture. Before we were just talking, preaching. But if we’re going to do it, you do it. The good thing about our situation now is that we have some very nice assets, a few more shooting guards, and time to take a look at Willie [Cauley-Stein], Skal [Labissiere] and Malachi Richardson] when he gets healthy, and Georgios Papagiannis. Ty Lawson has been very good for us, and Darren [Collison] is playing well, and he will be a free agent. Kosta [Koufos] has been good. We have [Bogdan] Bogdanovic coming over next season as another asset.”

On taking heat for moving Cousins:

“That’s my job, and I take responsibility. And I totally understand why some fans would be upset. They supported DeMarcus, and I like DeMarcus a lot. But I believe we are going to be in a better position in two years. I want to hear again from these same people in two years. If I’m right, great. If I’m wrong, I’ll step down. But if I go down, I’m going down my way.”

And-Ones: Jones, Thornton, Suns, Raptors

February 25th, 2017 at 10:51pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pelicans waived Terrence Jones on Thursday after being unable to find a trade partner for him and the Nets waived Marcus Thornton after acquiring him in the Bojan Bogdanovic trade. Both players have cleared waivers and are free to sign with any team, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

Jones should have no problem finding a new home. He’s a productive 25-year-old big man who was averaging 11.5 points per game in New Orleans while sporting a 16.2 player efficient rating.

Thornton may have to wait slightly longer to find a new club, but he should be able to help a team fill out the back end of its rotation.

Here’s more from around the league:

The Hawks sent $500K to the Suns as part of the Mike Scott trade, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). In addition to the cash considerations, Phoenix received the draft rights to Cenk Akyol for taking on Scott’s contract, while Atlanta received a protected second-round pick.
As part of the P.J. Tucker deal, the Raptors sent the Suns cash considerations of $1MM, Pincus tweets. Phoenix also received Jared Sullinger and two second-round picks in the deal. The Suns waived Sullinger on Friday.
The Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s D-League affiliate, has traded Cameron Jones to the Canton Charge, leagues sources tell Adam Johnson of D-League Digest (Twitter link).

Pelicans Waive Omri Casspi, Sign Reggie Williams

February 25th, 2017 at 12:42pm CST by Milo Taibi

February 25: The Pelicans have now signed Williams to a 10-day contract. The club formally announced the addition in a press release on their official website.

February 24: The Pelicans will waive Omri Casspi and use his roster spot to sign Reggie Williams, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (Twitter link). Casspi, acquired from Sacramento alongside DeMarcus Cousins, suffered a broken thumb in his team debut on Thursday.

Justin Verrier of ESPN initially reported Casspi would miss 4-to-6 weeks with the injury (Twitter link). According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Pelicans felt Casspi’s absence would leave them short-handed on the wing in midst of a playoff hunt. The decision to cut Casspi wasn’t an easy one, as GM Dell Demps resisted the temptation to flip Casspi leading up to the deadline (Twitter links).

If Casspi doesn’t play another game in 2016/17, he’ll have finished the year averaging 6.1 points through a career-low 23 games. As Bobby Marks of The Vertical points out, the Pelicans are only responsible for $906K of Casspi’s salary, unless he’s claimed on waivers (Twitter link).

The 30-year-old Williams appeared in five games with the Pelicans in December, recording 25 points in that span. A veteran of five NBA teams, Williams averaged 18.2 points this season with the D-League’s Oklahoma City Blue. A lifetime 36.6% 3-point shooter, Williams will supplant Casspi as a long distance threat off New Orleans’ bench.

Jack Excited For Opportunity; Gentry Discusses Jones Release

February 24th, 2017 at 3:29pm CST by Luke Adams

It has been more than a year since Jarrett Jack appeared in an NBA game, so he’s excited about the “tremendous” opportunity he has in New Orleans, as William Guillory of The Times-Picayune details. Jack signed a 10-day contract today with the Pelicans.
After adding DeMarcus Cousins to their frontcourt, the Pelicans knew there wouldn’t be many minutes for Terrence Jones going forward, which is why they granted him his release on Thursday, per head coach Alvin Gentry (link via Guillory). “He wants to play,” Gentry said. “Obviously, he’s going to be a guy in a contract year and things like that, so we thought it was best to let him go.”

Omri Casspi Breaks Thumb, Out 4-6 Weeks

February 24th, 2017 at 1:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

FEBRUARY 24: The Pelicans have confirmed the diagnosis on Casspi, announcing today (via Twitter) that the veteran forward will be sidelined for four to six weeks as his thumb heals.

FEBRUARY 23: Omri Casspi broke his right thumb tonight in his first game with the Pelicans since Monday’s trade, tweets Justin Verrier of ESPN.com. Doctors are projecting that the injury will sideline him for four to six weeks (Twitter link).

Casspi was sent from Sacramento to New Orleans along with DeMarcus Cousins in a five-player deal. His injury capped an overall bad night for the Pelicans, who suffered a 30-point loss to Houston in front of a sold-out Smoothie King Center. Casspi played 23 minutes and scored 12 points before being hurt. New Orleans was counting on him to provide some wing depth after shipping Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway to the Kings.

Casspi is making $3MM this season in the final year of his contract, so he is a candidate to be waived or bought out if the Pelicans don’t want to wait for his return. New Orleans waived Lance Stephenson in a similar situation in November when the team felt like it needed a healthy player.

The Pelicans filled one final roster spot today when they signed Hollis Thompson to a 10-day contract, but opened another when they waived Terrence Jones.

Post-Deadline Housekeeping: New TPEs, Open Roster Spots

February 24th, 2017 at 1:43pm CST by Luke Adams

There were no superstars on the move on Thursday, but NBA teams made eight trades, and there were many more signings and cuts completed once the deadline passed. In the wake of the deadline, we’ll take a look at a few roster- and cap-related notes, rounding up the new traded player exceptions that teams created on Thursday, as well as examining which teams still have space available on their rosters.

Let’s dive in…

New trade exceptions:

Several over-the-cap teams acquired new trade exceptions on Thursday. They’ll all expire on February 23, 2018, a year after they were created, or until they’re used or renounced by the teams below. If a club wants to use cap room, it must renounce its trade exceptions, but until then, these TPEs can be used in the summer or next season to acquire players.

Here’s the breakdown, in order of TPE value:

Dallas Mavericks: $6,642,537
Chicago Bulls: $5,462,000
Milwaukee Bucks: $5,000,000
Atlanta Hawks: $3,333,334
Houston Rockets: $3,333,333
Dallas Mavericks: $1,514,160
Houston Rockets: $612,172
Toronto Raptors: $328,000
Houston Rockets: $233,880

Some notes related to these TPEs:

Multiple teams on this list, including the Rockets and Bucks, could open up cap room by renouncing their trade exceptions. In Houston’s case, this is particularly notable, since the club would create more than $3.5MM in cap space by renouncing these TPEs. That cap room could come in handy very soon if the Rockets are trying to entice a free agent to sign with them instead of another contender that can only offer the minimum.
As is always the case with TPEs, some of these exceptions will be more useful than others. The Mavericks could end up doing something interesting with their $6.6MM+ TPE, but the Raptors will almost certainly never use theirs for $328K.
The Thunder also came out of Thursday’s action with a new TPE — sort of. Oklahoma City had created a trade exception worth $7.4MM on November 1 when the team sent Ersan Ilyasova to Philadelphia. The Thunder used a portion of that exception at the deadline to absorb Doug McDermott‘s salary, leaving approximately $4.94MM left on it. OKC will have until November 1 to use the rest of that TPE.
For the complete list of trade exceptions across the NBA, click here.

Teams with open roster spots:

A day after the trade deadline, the list of teams with open roster spots is incredibly fluid. Some teams that acquired players in trades don’t have any use for those players, and will waive them. Other clubs will fill roster holes with D-League call-ups, while other teams will be a little more patient and wait out the buyout market.

All of this is to say that this list is up to date at the time of publication, but could change quickly as teams make more moves this weekend. Here are the teams that currently have at least one open spot on their 15-man roster, with their player count noted in parentheses:

Charlotte Hornets (13): The 10-day contracts for Ray McCallum and Mike Tobey expired overnight, so Charlotte has two open spots. The team reportedly plans to use one on Johnny O’Bryant.
Cleveland Cavaliers (14): The Cavs have 13 guaranteed contracts, plus Derrick Williams‘ 10-day deal. The team expects to sign Deron Williams as well, so if any other roster additions are coming after that, Cleveland would need to clear a roster spot.
Dallas Mavericks (13): The Mavs have two openings after completing a two-for-one trade with the Sixers, then waiving Deron Williams.
Houston Rockets (14): The Rockets opened up a roster spot by trading K.J. McDaniels, and may waive Marcelo Huertas as well. Houston is expected to be active on the buyout market.
Milwaukee Bucks (14): The Bucks created a roster opening by sending Roy Hibbert to Denver, and they’re expected to fill it by signing Axel Toupane to a 10-day contract.
Minnesota Timberwolves (14): Unlike most of the teams on this list, the Wolves have carried an open roster spot for a while, and that didn’t change at the deadline.
Oklahoma City Thunder (14): The Thunder traded three players to Chicago and received just two in return, creating an opening. They have their eye on free agents and buyout candidates.
Orlando Magic (14): Like Minnesota, the Magic were carrying an open roster spot prior to the deadline and didn’t make a move on Thursday.

The Suns will join this list as soon as they officially waive Mike Scott and Jared Sullinger, as is expected. They’ll fill one of those two newly-open spots with Ronnie Price. There are also three teams that have full 15-man rosters with at least one player on a 10-day contract. The Hawks, Warriors, and Pelicans fall into this category, with Briante Weber‘s second 10-day deal in Golden State set to expire soon.

For a full breakdown of NBA roster counts, check out our list.