11:47am: The Jazz have officially finalized Cheatham’s 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The deal will run through January 21, covering Utah’s next five games.
9:03am: The Jazz are set to sign swingman Zylan Cheatham to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Utah already has three players on 10-day hardship deals, with Danuel House under contract through Saturday, Norvel Pelle through Sunday, and Denzel Valentine through next Wednesday. However, since the Jazz have five players in the health and safety protocols, they remain eligible to continue adding replacement players using hardship exceptions.
Cheatham, 26, has spent most of this season with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League affiliate. In 13 NBAGL games (30.5 MPG), he averaged a double-double (14.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG) with a solid .491/.429/.806 shooting line. That performance earned him a 10-day contract with Miami just before Christmas, but he didn’t play at all for the Heat and entered the COVID-19 protocols before his deal expired. He has since cleared the protocols.
Undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, Cheatham spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Pelicans, appearing in four NBA games in 2019/20. Those are his only NBA regular season appearances to date.
Cheatham will earn $85,578 over the course of his 10 days with Utah, but that money won’t count toward team salary for salary cap or luxury tax purposes.