One of the most common forms of signing other players for NBA teams is the 10-day contract. You will see the openings for 10-day contracts, usually around the second half of the season when teams look to improve their rosters and strength.
There are many facts to know about 10-day contracts, and getting this information can sometimes be challenging. We’ve gathered all the relevant information you need to know about 10-day contracts on this page so you can have a one-stop shop for resources relating to 10-day contracts.
Continue reading to find out all you need to know about 10-day contracts. This includes salaries, 10-day contracts, and some examples of players who have signed 10-day contracts in the past.
How Does an NBA 10-day Contract Work?
On January 5, during every NBA season, teams in the league can sign players on 10-day contracts, giving them access to temporary help from players without committing. 10-day contracts last for either ten days or three regular-season games, depending on which is longer. The team will pay the player a prorated minimum share, but they can always negotiate the salary based on experience and skill.
If the team doesn’t play up to 3 games in ten days, they can extend the contract to cover that period and adjust the prorated salary appropriately. This rarely happens because of the busy nature of the NBA, unless the span overlaps with the All-Star Weekend. Teams can sign the same player to two standard 10-day contracts in one season, but they have to commit for the rest of the season after the second one expires or move on. These two 10-day contracts can be back-to-back, or there may be a gap between them.
NBA teams have no obligation to keep players for the entire 10-day deal, but the teams guarantee the salary for the duration, and the cap hit stays on the team’s payroll. A standard 10-day contract occupies a standard roster spot, so a team generally needs an open spot on its 15-man roster unless it receives a hardship exception that allows it to add a temporary extra player.
You will find that 10-day contracts are popular in the second half of the NBA season because teams will be looking to increase their roster and add future rotation pieces.
Why Does NBA Have 10-Day Contracts?
Teams in the NBA can sign players on 10-day contracts for numerous reasons. One of the most common is injuries. Many teams struggle with injuries, especially as they enter decisive phases in the league, and they need to round up their teams to replace players that are unable to play. Some players get burnt out as the season progresses and cannot keep up with the same tensions. 10-day contracts are a quick fix to overcome issues along the way, meet minimum roster requirements, and keep the team going.
Another reason why teams sign 10-day contracts are the potential for long-term signing. Sometimes, players on 10-day contracts can prove themselves and show that they’re valuable additions to the teams. In cases like this, the team can easily convert the player to a standard contract. So, 10-day contracts are a way to test the ability and compatibility of players before committing to make them a part of your team.
What Happens After 10-Day Contract NBA
After the 10-day contracts of these players expire, the team has to make a choice. They can choose to keep the player for a second ten-day contract, release them or sign them for the remainder of the season. Sometimes, the team’s decision depends on the player’s performance during their run. A team can even decide to release the player before the deal expires, but they still have to pay their agreed-upon salary.
What is the Difference Between a 10-Day Contract and a Hardship Contract?
It is not uncommon for people to confuse hardship contracts with 10-day contracts, as we’ve seen before. With standard 10-day contracts, players can only sign with the same team twice in a season, while hardship exceptions can allow teams to add temporary players when injuries or illnesses leave them short-handed.
Another way they differ is the availability of additional spots on a roster of the teams in question. With 10-day standard contracts, a team generally needs an open spot on its 15-man standard roster. However, there is an exception to this when the NBA gives the teams a hardship exception where they can go ahead to add more players.
In terms of salaries, they also differ significantly. While with standard 10-day contracts, the salary will count against the team’s salary cap, this is not so with hardship 10-day deals.
What is the 10-day Contract Salary?
If players sign a 10-day contract with NBA teams, they get a salary that is based on the league’s minimum salary scale and the player’s years of NBA service unless the team negotiates a higher amount. A simple method they use to calculate what a player receives depends on the length of the season. A 10-day minimum salary is generally calculated as 10/174 of the player’s applicable minimum salary for that season.
The major exceptions to the salary of a 10-day contract are the player’s experience and, in particular, years spent in the NBA. Rookies and veterans do not fall in the same category, and their pay scale is also different. A rookie on a 10-day contract earns a smaller prorated amount, while veterans with many years of service have a higher prorated minimum because their full-season minimum salary is higher.
Also Read: How Do NBA Players Get Paid?
Some of the Best 10-day Contract Players
Just because the players are on 10-day contracts doesn’t mean they are not good. The NBA has seen some notable players on 10-day contracts that are excellent. Check out some of them below:
Seth Curry
You might recognize his name from his father and brother, but this less popular Curry has made a name for himself on the court. He is a G-League leading scorer that sometimes seems to struggle on the defensive end of the court and doesn’t have top levels of athleticism. Notably, he was an improved distributor in the 2014-2015 season with the Erie Bayhawks, and his shooting stands out on the team.
He played only two NBA games with the Cleveland Cavaliers and another with Memphis Grizzlies, both on 10-day contracts. He later became an established NBA shooting specialist with stops including Dallas, Portland, Sacramento, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Charlotte.
His shooting has remained the skill that makes his 10-day contract story stand out, as he turned short-term NBA opportunities into a long-term career as one of the league’s most accurate three-point shooters.
Chuck Hayes
Chuck Hayes is one of those players that stand out among the rest at first glance. He stands at 6-foot-6 and weighs about 240 lb. Even though he did not get drafted in the 2005 NBA draft, the Houston Rockets signed him before the 2005 – 2006 season.
He signed a 10-day contract with the Houston Rockets and he got a contract that extended to the end of the season. In 2010-2011 with Houston Rockets, he averaged 8.1 rebounds and 7.9 points in 28.1 minutes per game.
What makes Chuck Hayes an amazing player is his impressive style of play that he has perfected to the best of his abilities. He would rather give up the ball on offense than risk losing possession of the ball. Also, Vorped graph showed that he took 87.8% of his shots from inside the key in 2012, by far the most efficient spot for a player of his skill level.
His bulky body along with his physical method of play makes him an excellent defensive player. He signed a cushy 4-year contract worth $22,417,500 with the Sacramento Kings in 2011.
Gerald Green
Gerald Green is another strong example of a player who used a 10-day contract to get back into the NBA picture. After spending time away from the league and playing in the G League, Green signed a 10-day contract with the New Jersey Nets in 2012.
Green quickly reminded teams why his athleticism and scoring ability were so intriguing. His strong play with the Nets helped him earn a deal for the rest of the season and eventually led to more NBA opportunities with teams including Indiana, Phoenix, Miami, Boston and Houston.
Notable 2022 10-Day Contract Players
Isaiah Thomas
One of the most notable players on 10-day contracts in 2022 was Isaiah Thomas. He signed 10-day contracts with the Charlotte Hornets in March 2022 before joining the team for the rest of the season.
He started with a promising career with Sacramento before moving from Phoenix to the Celtics in 2014, where he had wanted to settle. His time in Boston saw him get an All-NBA nod and an All-Star team in only three seasons. Soon after that, he started dealing with injuries and was traded from Boston to Cleveland in the Kyrie Irving deal. After that, he played for several teams while trying to regain a stable NBA role.
Isaiah Thomas’s notable runs of 10-day contracts in that season started when he signed a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, getting some decent statistics during his run. Some notable stats include scoring 19 and 13 points in 2 games consecutively. However, that didn’t earn him a full roster spot. Later he had a stint with the Mavericks before landing with Charlotte.
Lance Stephenson
The Indiana Pacers selected Lance Stephenson in the second round of the 2010 draft. However, his debut wasn’t till February 2011 in a loss to the Phoenix Suns. After the 2013-2014 season, the Pacers gave him a 5-year $44 million contract, but he refused it and instead decided to test the market believing his worth to be higher. He landed at the Charlotte Hornets on a $27 million, three-year contract.
Lance Stephenson is most known for his fierce competitiveness and antics on the court. Amazingly, he signed multiple 10-day contracts during the 2021-22 season, including hardship deals before staying with the Indiana Pacers for the rest of that season. Under regular conditions, the highest number of standard 10-day contracts a team can sign a player to in one season is two, but hardship exceptions can change what teams are allowed to do when they are short on available players.
Also Read: What is the NBA Veteran Minimum Salary?
Conclusion
Now you know the basics about 10-day contracts. They are an excellent way to get a standard contract at an NBA team; however, as you might expect, the competition can be pretty fierce. A rookie getting a 10-day contract is a chance to prove themselves why they will be invaluable members of the team.