As of February 23, NBA teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts without needing a hardship exception.
A 10-day contract allows a team to sign a player to its roster for either 10 days or three games, whichever happens first.
One player can sign up to two 10-day contracts with the same team in a single season.
After those two deals have expired, the team has to decide if they want to sign that player for the rest of the season or let him go.
Teams will tend to use 10-day contracts if they want to see how a young player looks and if he deserves a long-term deal, while other teams will use a 10-day contract to fill a roster spot if they have another player out due to injury.
Players on non-guaranteed contracts have to be released by Feb. 24, so there will likely be several players cut in the NBA by that deadline.
This week, the Los Angeles Lakers already waived Quinn Cook and the New Orleans Pelicans waived Sindarius Thornwell.
