Why the Sixers Are Signing Charles Bassey to a 10-Day Contract

The Sixers have officially hit the limit that we've been warning about for the past month.

Teams can only have two-way players on their active list for 90 total games in a season whenever they have at least one open roster spot. The Sixers entered the year with one and had yet to fill it heading into Saturday, so they hit the 90-game Under-Fifteen Game threshold with their 112-109 loss against the New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon.

Had the Sixers not filled that roster spot by Monday night, neither Dominick Barlow nor Jabari Walker would have been allowed to suit up against the Charlotte Hornets. But as we suggested earlier this month, a 10-day contract could help them bridge the gap until the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline.

Lo and behold, ESPN's Shams Charania broke the news Saturday night that the Sixers are signing fifth-year center Charles Bassey to a 10-day contract. According to a team source, the contract is expected to take effect Monday, so it will last for the Sixers' final six games before the trade deadline.

The Sixers originally selected Bassey with the 53rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. He appeared in 23 games with the Sixers as a rookie and 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.3 minutes per game. They waived him in October 2022, but he quickly latched on with the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he played 90 games across three seasons.

The Sixers seemingly telegraphed their interest in Bassey when the Delaware Blue Coats acquired him in a trade with the Texas Legends in mid-December. However, the Blue Coats traded him and a 2026 second-round pick in the G League draft to the Santa Cruz Warriors two weeks later for forward Jackson Rowe, a 2026 first-round pick in the G League draft and a 2027 first-round pick in the G League draft.

Across 10 games with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Bassey averaged 18.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 27.8 minutes while shooting 59.3 percent overall. He also shot 8-of-20 from deep over that span, which is notable given his career 3-of-13 mark from long range in the NBA.

The Sixers do have two back-to-backs within the next week. They face the Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, respectively, and they begin a five-game road trip against the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 2 and Golden State Warriors on Feb. 3. Since Joel Embiid is still not cleared to play in back-to-backs, Bassey could potentially earn some actual minutes in the two games that he figures to sit out.

However, his signing could also hint at the Sixers' thinking leading up to the trade deadline.

Is Andre Drummond not long for Philadelphia… again?

Andre Drummond began the season as Embiid's primary backup, but Adem Bona has supplanted him in recent weeks. Drummond is now mostly only seeing minutes on nights where Embiid is resting.

That begs the question: Is he about to become a luxury-tax casualty?

Once Bassey officially signs his 10-day contract, the Sixers will be roughly $7.1 million over the $187.9 million luxury-tax line. Unless they salary-dump Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million) or Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.4 million), dumping Drummond's $5 million contract is their easiest path to trimming their tax bill. They'd still have work to do to get out of the luxury tax entirely, but they'd be only $2.1 million over the tax line if they trade Drummond without taking salary back.

Unless Embiid unexpectedly gets cleared for back-to-backs soon, though, Drummond is a valuable insurance policy at center. He can fill in as the starter whenever Embiid misses a game, which is particularly valuable given Embiid's extensive injury history. If the Sixers trade Drummond and don't land another big man, they'd be taking a massive risk by rolling with Bona and rookie Johni Broome as their only two other centers behind Embiid.

With that in mind, Bassey's 10-day contract could be an audition for a rest-of-season deal. The Sixers would need to clear an additional roster spot—they already need two to convert Barlow and Walker from two-way contracts to standard deals—but dumping Drummond and one other player (Eric Gordon?) would accomplish that.

If Bassey impresses on his 10-day deal, it might make the Sixers more amenable to trading Drummond. Once Bassey's 10-day expires, they can sign him to one more 10-day contract this season before they have to decide whether to hand him a rest-of-season deal.

They'll have until well after the trade deadline to make that decision, but the next week-and-a-half could help determine whether he's only in Philly for a cup of coffee or if this could turn into a longer-term partnership.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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