The Grizzlies have signed Ray McCallum to a second 10-day contract, the team announced. His first expired overnight. The move restores Memphis to a 17-man roster, meaning the club has received additional clearance from the league through the hardship provision to carry two more than the regular season 15-man maximum. However, Memphis has no immediate plans to re-sign Alex Stepheson, whose first 10-day contract also expired at the end of Monday, tweets Grizzlies sideline reporter Rob Fischer. The hardship exception they’d used to carry Stepheson as one of 18 players on Monday’s roster wasn’t renewed, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, who suggests it likely means Chris Andersen will return tonight from the left shoulder injury that’s kept him out for the last nine games (Twitter link)
The latest deal for McCallum, which costs $55,722, will cover four games, against the Lakers, Spurs (twice) and Nuggets. The third-year pro has seen plenty of action in Memphis, starting the last two games and averaging 8.5 points, 2.8 assists and 1.8 turnovers in 24.3 minutes per contest across six appearances overall. He’s canned nine of his 18 3-point attempts as he’s seen far more opportunity than he did with the Spurs, who had him for most of the season before waiving him to make room for Andre Miller. The Knicks reportedly considered signing him, but the Grizzlies instead scooped him up to deal with their many injury problems.
Nine Grizzlies were ailing at one point earlier this month, and six have some sort of injury at this point, including Andersen. Marc Gasol is out for the season with a broken foot, while Brandan Wright, P.J. Hairston, Jordan Adams and Mike Conley are also sidelined, according to the CBSSports.com injury log.
Teams can’t sign any player to more than two 10-day contracts per year, but only 13 days will be left in the season when McCallum’s latest pact expires. The Grizzlies only have 14 players signed through season’s end, so they have flexibility to retain McCallum if they choose.