Pedro Oliveira
The 10-day contract format was something you didn’t see very often in the NBA until COVID-19 became a daily occurrence worldwide. With the massive outbreaks in certain squads over the past two seasons, the squads were virtually impossible to compete with in terms of the number of players available, and rather than causing a very high level of disparity, it also caused many cancellations during the regular season.
As a result of this situation, 10-day contracts came back and are the most useful tool franchises have to fill their rotations in cases of emergency. It also is a chance for players who have not had opportunities in the league. With a total of 118 different players having signed ten-day contracts, it looks like those will be sticking around for quite a while, at least until the virus is a thing of the past. These are the top 5 players with the most 10-day contracts signed in 2021-2022.
Source: Exact numbers come from the hoopsrumors.com site.
Wenyen Gabriel
The 24-year-old Sudanese has had a busy start to his career, having already been part of five teams in just three seasons. In the current campaign he has had four 10-day contracts, which he has completed in their entirety (40 days), accumulating an approximate salary of $385.000, with the Los Angeles Clippers (twice), the Brooklyn Nets and the New Orleans Pelicans.
However, he only played in seven games total throughout his time with the three organizations, averaging 2 points, 2.1 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per game. He is currently playing with the Los Angeles Lakers on a two-way contract.
Danuel House Jr.
For the 28-year-old forward, his best days came when he was a fixture in the Houston Rockets’ rotation, when James Harden was still the team’s star, averaging 9.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.7 three-pointers on 37% efficiency through 154 games played in four seasons.
But, to his misfortune, the Rockets entered a rebuilding process and waived him shortly after the start of this season. Ever since then, he has been navigating 10-day contracts with the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz franchises (three times), for a total of four deals of this sort, and 40 days already completed under them.
Raising approximately $445.000, House is now a permanent part of Quin Snyder’s lineup, averaging 7.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists 18.4 minutes per game.
Stanley Johnson
As the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft, Johnson definitely didn’t have the best thrive in the NBA to end up on this list. After three very disappointing initial seasons with the Detroit Pistons, he went through many teams without finding a permanent place in any of them, until this season.
One contract with the Chicago Bulls and three with the Los Angeles Lakers, all ten-day contracts, gave him the opportunity to continue his career with the California team for the what is left of the season. He accumulated $480.000 between those deals, and averaged 6.3 points, 3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 27 games and 21.3 minutes.
Lance Stephenson
The 31-year-old veteran was a second-round pick in the 2010 draft, and excelled primarily in his career as a member of the Indiana Pacers, the team he currently plays for. With five 10-day contracts to his name (one with the Atlanta Hawks and four with the Pacers, for a total of 43 days), he is the second player with the most such deals up to date in the NBA.
He has undoubtedly been able to get the most money out of all these deals, with a total of $690.000, not counting the contract for the rest of the season that he signed with Indiana at the end of his last 10-day deal. His numbers so far with the Pacers are 10 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4 assists in 26 games.
Chris Silva
A native of Libreville, in the country of Gabon, Silva is the only player that has signed four 10-day contracts with a single team, the Miami Heat. He also added one more deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves to bring his total up to five 10-day contracts, with 50 full days in all of his transactions.
His total collected for this season has been $480.000 dollars and he has played just 19 games so far this campaign, averaging 2.6 points, 3.6 rebounds in 9.1 minutes for the 25-year-old power forward. Silva is the only player who has been currently able to break the five-contract barrier, having signed two more contracts with the Heat team, who still has room on its roster.
