5:05pm: Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) reports that it’s a three-year deal. The rest of this season is guaranteed, but the next two seasons are not.
WEDNESDAY, 9:17am: The Sixers have formally announced their new deal with Varnado, via press release. The team doesn’t specify the terms of the agreement, as is usually the case, but the release doesn’t refer to the agreement as a 10-day deal, so it appears that it covers at least the rest of the season.
TUESDAY, 11:19am: The Sixers will re-sign Jarvis Varnado to a multiyear contract with guaranteed money for 2014/15, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The team had workouts lined up for today with at least four players who were presumably vying for Varnado’s roster spot, but the team has apparently decided the incumbent is the best choice. Varnado had been with the club on a 10-day deal that expired Monday night. Wojnarowski’s tweet indicates that Varnado has already signed his new contract, but the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
Sixers coach Brett Brown said Monday that he’s “thrilled” with Varnado, who nonetheless saw short minutes on his 10-day contract. He averaged 2.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game over five appearances. Varnado’s strengths are rebounding and shot-blocking, and his per-36 minute numbers with the team suggest fairly strong production, albeit over a minuscule sample size. He’s notched 9.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per 36 minutes for Philadelphia.
The 6’9″ 26-year-old has played in just 19 career NBA games, but he’s been well-traveled, splitting them among four teams. He signed a 10-day contract earlier this season with the Bulls and spent parts of last season with the Heat and Celtics. The Impact Sports Basketball client is probably receiving a minimum-salary arrangement, though Philadelphia has the cap room necessary to give him more. There’s a decent chance it calls for non-guaranteed seasons in 2015/16 and 2016/17, as Sixers GM Sam Hinkie has locked up several players on four-year contracts with little guaranteed money. Wojnarowski says that next year is a team option, but that would preclude the guaranteed money he refers to, and team options are rare in free agent contracts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “option” Wojnarowski is referring to is actually a partial guarantee.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
I’m a fan of his game. I knew he’d catch on somewhere.