Almost a decade into the era of two-way contracts in the NBA, many have gained an understanding of how the contracts work: players inked to two-way deals have an allotment of NBA days. They can be active for games with the big club a certain number of times — 50 games for players signed before the start of the season — but once they reach that total, they must be converted to standard NBA contracts to appear again. Players on two-way deals also cannot appear in the postseason without being converted. Two-way deals have been significant in the improvement of player development in the NBA, offering teams many more chances to take shots on players they believe have long-term potential.
But there is another, lesser-known rule related to the usage of two-way players that very well may force the Sixers into some further roster movement in the days to come. No matter how many NBA days are remaining for a team's two-way players individually, teams cannot use more than 90 of them while having fewer than 15 players on their standard rosters.
Seemingly a rule designed to prevent teams from skirting around giving guaranteed salaries to NBA-caliber players, it is now one the Sixers will face. The team had 14 players on its standard roster until this week, and now has just 13 roster spots filled. They have had two-way players active on 89 occasions, meaning the trio of Justin Edwards, Jared Butler and Jeff Dowtin Jr. can only combine for one more NBA appearance before the team either converts them to standard deals or fills its roster to 15 players.
Edwards, 20, has been brilliant in about five weeks as a rotation piece for the Sixers, comfortably serving as the team's fifth starter of late. He has done more than enough to establish himself as a viable rotation wing with considerable room for growth at such a young age. The hometown kid has starred in his role and projects to be a valuable piece of this puzzle for years to come. Not only do the Sixers need to continue playing him for the sake of his long-term development, but they need to continue to play him if they want to win games and fight their way into the playoffs (where he will only be eligible to participate if he has his deal converted).
Butler, 24, was acquired from the Washington Wizards in a very rare trade involving a two-way player. With the Sixers desperate for a stable backup point guard, they added a player they have been following for years who also happened to torch their defense in Philadelphia last month.
Jared Butler against the Sixers on Jan. 8:
20 minutes
26 points (career-high)
7 assists
4 rebounds
10-19 FG
3-3 3P
All of his baskets and a few assists from that night: pic.twitter.com/he0lUYuoIi— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) February 6, 2025
That final sub-15 NBA day for the Sixers' two-way players will almost certainly be used to enable Edwards to face the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday afternoon. But when the Sixers host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, none of Edwards, Butler or Dowtin will be able to suit up unless they are converted to standard deals or the team finds a way to reach 15 players.
The Sixers need Edwards in their rotation moving forward, and surely would like to give Butler a similar opportunity. How will they proceed? Two options emerge to skirt around the obscure rule that is going to force a change to the team's calculus with the back end of its roster.
SIXERS TRADE DEADLINE INSTANT REACTIONS
Quentin Gimes for Caleb Martin | KJ Martin to Pistons | Swap of guards, picks with D.C.
The Sixers are at 13 roster spots filled right now. This counts Chuma Okeke, who has nine days left on a 10-day contract he signed on Friday morning. With two roster spots unoccupied and more than enough breathing room below the luxury tax threshold to ink Edwards and Butler to standard deals without becoming taxpayers, there is little downside to just getting the inevitable out of the way. Edwards has already proven himself to be an NBA-caliber player, and the Sixers added Butler because they are under the impression that the same is true for him.
Because they do not have any cap space or exceptions, the Sixers can only offer Edwards and Butler two-year minimum deals. They can throw a team option on the second year of the deals, decline those options in June and re-sign the players to longer-term deals if they want to, but for the sake of this conversation, their eventual standard deals will be prorated minimum deals this season with negligible salary cap hits.
Two-way contracts can be signed until early March, so the Sixers could replace Edwards and Butler with a pair of new two-way players to have alongside Dowtin. But the roster spot currently held by Okeke would have to eventually be filled on a permanent basis (they could also just convert Dowtin and sign a trio of new two-way players).
Edwards is going to be converted eventually, and the same is very likely true for Butler. It is just a matter of whether the Sixers choose to do it in the next few days, over the All-Star break next week or a bit later to maximize opportunities to give external players chances to make impressions. That final option gets incredibly complicated with many moving parts, but it is doable.
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The Sixers could, in theory, buy a few weeks of time when they are back at 15 players. That would temporarily render the fact that their two-ways have used nearly all of their sub-15 days irrelevant. The Sixers can be players on the buyout market now that they are below the first apron, but President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey indicated on Friday that the team does not currently anticipate finding a significant contributor there.
The easiest path for the Sixers to go down if they want to wait on the two conversions is to stack a few more 10-day deals. Players can be signed to two consecutive 10-day contracts; after the second one expires the team can only re-sign them if it is a deal for the remainder of the season. The formula for all of that becomes fairly bizarre, though. The team would have to sign two more players to 10-day contracts by Tuesday's game to temporarily get to 15 players. Okeke and the two newer 10-day contracts being re-upped could give the Sixers until around the end of February before they have to convert either Edwards or Butler.
But is jumping through all of those hoops really worth it when the team clearly knows Edwards and Butler are guys they want to be parts of their future? Here is what Morey said on Friday about potentially converting the two players to standard deals:
"Eventually, yeah, I think we'll have conversations with representation, and it's already begun, to potentially convert them. That's a two-way street where you have to work out something. So we'll see where that goes… We see them as big parts of our future and we hope to convert them at some point. We think they're good roster fits for long-term."
Because of his significance in the team's current rotation, figuring out a solution to keep Edwards consistently available should be the top priority. Getting Butler into the mix is important, too, but the Sixers can get by without him, whereas that is not the case for the rookie wing. And something has to give between now and Tuesday.
Unless the Sixers hold Edwards out of Sunday's game, one of these things will be true by Tuesday night:
1) Edwards and/or Butler will have been converted to a standard contract.
2) The Sixers will have added two more players on standard contracts to delay the eventual conversions of Edwards and Butler.
3) Edwards and Butler will be unavailable until they are converted to standard deals or the team adds two more external players.
Now, we wait to see how the Sixers navigate a scenario which could end up being awfully simple or extremely tricky.
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