Report: Bryce Cotton to Sign 10-Day Contract with Utah Jazz

Marc Stein of ESPN is reporting that Bryce Cotton and the Utah Jazz are working on a 10-day contract to call Cotton up from the NBA D-League. Cotton has been playing with the Austin Spurs, an affiliate team of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Cotton signed a partially-guaranteed 2-year contract with the Spurs after going undrafted in the 2015 NBA Draft and was then waived following training camp and assigned to Austin as an affiliate player.

In 34 games Cotton is putting up Cotton numbers by averaging 40.2 minutes/game, 22.4 points/game, 4.6 assists/game, 4.7 rebounds/game and 1.3 steals/game. He is shooting 44.8% from beyond the arc, 90% from the free throw line and 47.1% from the field overall. Cotton scored 43 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 2 steals on February 19th in a win. That marked the second time Cotton scored 40 or more points in a game this season. He scored 40 points on January 17th and had a total of 9 games in which he scored 30 or more points. That means he scored 30+ points in more than a quarter of the games he played this season for the Austin Spurs.

The Utah Jazz were a team that worked Cotton out in pre-draft workouts and there were rumors that they were one of the teams interested in signing him after the draft concluded. For those wanting to tune in to see Cotton’s NBA debut this is the upcoming schedule during the length of the 10-day contract:

• Wednesday, February 25th at 9pm ET vs. Los Angeles Lakers
• Friday, February 27th at 9pm ET at Denver Nuggets
• Saturday, February 28th at 9pm ET vs. Milwaukee Bucks
• Tuesday, March 3rd at 8pm ET at Memphis Grizzlies
• Wednesday, March 4th at 7:30pm at Boston Celtics

The Jazz are currently 20-34 on the season and 10 games out of the 8 spot in the Western Conference. Cotton will join fellow undersized point guard Trey Burke in the backcourt. Burke was selected 9th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft. Also sharing ball handling duties since the injury to Alec Burks in late December is 6’6 guard Dante Exum who was selected 5th overall by the Jazz in the 2014 NBA Draft. The value of Cotton’s 10-day deal will reportedly be $29,843 according to HoopsRumors.com. That is the standard amount for rookies for a 10-day contract.

It’s unclear if Cotton is being called up as an insurance policy to sit on the bench, which seems unlikely considering the Jazz are out of the playoff race, or if they will truly give him a chance to play some minutes and show what he can do on the NBA level. What is clear is that Cotton’s NBA dream, a dream he has rejected lucrative overseas contracts to continue towards, has come to fruition even if for only 10 days.

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Mike Hopkins

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