Earlier today, the Kings and Knicks filled the final open spot on their respective rosters, signing a 15th man to a rest-of-season contract. With the NBA’s 2018/19 regular season set to come to an end next Wednesday, we can expect to see more teams making that kind of transaction in the next week.
While teams often leave a roster spot or two open during the season to maintain flexibility or to help reduce their projected tax bill, most of those clubs won’t leave any openings at season’s end. After all, the one-day cap hit for a minimum-salary player signed on the last day of the season maxes out at $8,548.
For playoff-bound clubs, that’s a small price to pay to add one more depth piece who might be needed for a game or two in the postseason. For lottery-bound teams, it’s a worthwhile investment to fill that 15th roster spot with a developmental player who could be an option for the 2019/20 roster.
With that in mind, here are the teams that still have at least one 15-man roster spot available:
Teams with two open roster spots:
- Miami Heat
Teams with one open roster spot:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Houston Rockets
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
- Washington Wizards
Teams with a full 15-man roster who have one player on a 10-day contract:
- Atlanta Hawks (Deyonta Davis; expires Sunday night)
- Boston Celtics (Greg Monroe; expires tonight)
Lakers have a full 15-man roster with one player on a 10-day (Jemerrio Jones), but I don’t see them on this…
Jones isn’t a 10 day.
As Sirsleepit mentioned, Jones’ deal is a multiyear contract rather than a 10-day, so the Lakers’ 15-man is full (though they could easily cut Jones and sign someone else in his place if they want to).
too bad we didn’t see melo make a final cameo