Hawks ink Austin Daye to two-year deal

Per Chris Vivlamore of the AJC, Austin Daye will sign to a two-year deal with the Hawks after his current 10-day contract ends tomorrow:

Daye gets two-year deal. Rest of this season and next year. #ATLHawks

— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) April 3, 2015

Daye is currently on his second 10-day contract with the Atlanta Hawks. Per league rules, a team can only sign a player to, at most, two 10-day contracts. With that, the Hawks were left with the option of signing Austin to a contract for the rest of this year (and potentially beyond) or not signing Austin. They chose the former.

An important detail is whether or not the second year is guaranteed, and it is not.

Second year for Daye non-guaranteed. #ATLHawks

— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) April 3, 2015

This is not the first time that the Hawks have implemented a strategy of signing a player from the NBDL to two 10-day contracts and then to a two-year contract. This happened in 2013 with Shelvin Mack, who later inked a somewhat lucrative multi-year contract.

So why would the Hawks sign Austin to a two-year contract instead of simply signing Austin Daye to a rest-of-season contract and then extending him a training camp invite in the offseason? Well, it is all because they do not want Austin Daye to potentially have the right to veto a trade next season.

If Austin Daye were to sign a one-year contract with the Hawks this offseason, then at the end of that contract, the Hawks would have Early Bird Rights on him. If that is the case, then Daye would have the right to veto any trade.

Giving Austin Daye the right to veto any trade is a pretty big deal. The Hawks were able to avoid this situation by giving Austin a two-year deal with the second year non-guaranteed. Effectively, this acts as a training camp invite for Austin Daye and provides insurance on the bench for the rest of 2015.