In January, NBA teams like the Portland Trail Blazers will be able to sign players to ten day contracts. For teams with extra roster spots or players on partially guaranteed deals, they can bring in someone who maybe plugs a gap for an injury, or has been spotted in the G-league and may be able to stay on the team long-term.
Just like there are specific rules around trades, ten-day contracts have their own unique guidelines around dates, roster size and contract. Using the Portland Trail Blazers as an example, how do teams need to go about signing players to ten day contracts?
The first day a player can be signed to a ten-day contract is January fifth. When this date rolls around a team like the Portland Trail Blazers could choose to sign power forward Kenneth Faried. His salary would be a minimum deal ( almost all ten days are at the minimum ) and would be pro-rated over the length of the deal.
This would mean a $2.5 million deal would be split over the ten days that the player is on the roster. The one wrinkle to the ten day contract is its either ten days or three games, which ever comes first.
An individual player is able to be signed to a maximum of two ten-day contracts, this can either be consecutive or separate. After two-day ten-day contracts the player has to be signed to a full NBA deal. Even if it’s just for the rest of that season.
There is no limit to how many ten days a team can sign separate players to. But roster limits define how many ten-day players you can have on the team at once.
Two-way players aren’t counted in the roster limits, so the Blazers as an example have 14 players on the books. This means they can have two ten-day players on the books. A team with 12 players is allowed zero ten days, 13 players is one ten-day, then 15 players is three two ways.
There may be no one on the open market that the Blazers want to sign to a ten-day deal, but injuries or the team record at the time may force their hand. Ten day contracts are a great way to get a read on a young player or vet that can provide a need for a short time if there are injuries.
With one roster spot up their sleeves with the waiving of Pau Gasol, they have the flexibility to make a signing or two in early January.