Jeffrey Carroll Goes Undrafted but Signs with Los Angeles Lakers

Jeffrey Carroll did not get drafted on Thursday in the 2018 NBA Draft, but he does have a new home. The Los Angeles Lakers have signed Carroll to an Exhibit 10 contract, and he will be in camp with them this summer.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Jeffrey Carroll (Oklahoma State) have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal, a league source told The Athletic.

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 22, 2018

What is an Exhibit 10 contract? Glad you asked! Here is something on it from Bobby Marks of ESPN written in September 2017.

A player who is signed to a contract with an Exhibit 10 will receive a bonus up to $50,000 if he signs a contract with the team’s G-League affiliate upon being waived from the parent club.

However, there is a catch. A player waived by Oct. 17 must report to his G-League affiliate by Oct. 20 and remain there for at least 60 days to receive the bonus (in addition to the G-League salary). Unlike last season, when a team would incur a salary-cap hit for players with partially guaranteed money who were eventually waived at the end of training camp, an NBA team will not have a cap charge for the bonus money awarded.

A player signed with an Exhibit 10 can also be converted to a two-way contract by the first day of the regular season. The bonus would then be rescinded and the two-way contract would apply. [ESPN Insider]

If that’s confusing, here’s the definition for us laypeople.

This is actually a standard NBA contract, with a specific addendum page called Exhibit 10 that has been negotiated into the deal, containing limitations that make it more of a G-League deal than one for a likely NBA player.

Financially, such a deal must be bare-bones minimum: one year, minimum salary, with no guarantees at all. But they are being termed as “partially guaranteed” deals by some because they have a potential bonus that can be earned.

The primary thing to understand is that these are really designed to be a pathway to stocking an NBA team’s G-League affiliate.

The lack of NBA guarantee money is part of that equation. But the terms of the potential bonus are the bigger part. The bonus can be for any number between $5,000 and $50,000, and is earned if (and only if) the player is waived by the NBA team and then immediately signs with their affiliated G-League team and stays with that team for two months or more.

An alternate outcome, provided for in the Exhibit 10, grants (a team) the right to convert the deal into one of their two allowable two-way contracts (which are potentially much more lucrative to the player than regular GL deals) at any time before the start of the NBA regular season, without the NBA team having to clear him through NBA waivers. [247 Sports]

Whew!

So it sounds as if the Lakers signed Carroll for their G-League team, which is more or less what I expected for him going into this draft. Still, there are certainly worse spots for him to land, and the Lakers seemed to be a team that was excited about Carroll from the beginning.

After that Lakers workout, a coach told Carroll, “I would honestly be shocked if you don’t get drafted.” Carroll appreciated the praise, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes too high. [NewsOK]

Carroll, who will almost certainly play with the Lakers in the NBA Summer League, is trying to join Markel Brown, Marcus Smart and Jawun Evans among former Oklahoma State players currently on NBA teams.

“I’m extremely thankful to even get a opportunity to play for one of the best organizations to even exist!” Carroll told us. “I’m just going to continue working because the work has just begun.”

Working out for the #LakeShow today, @OSUMBB’s Jeffrey Carroll pic.twitter.com/o3IuRKOsOA

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 13, 2018

Another day, another opportunity! Thank you @Lakers pic.twitter.com/3r3kDEdXc6

— Jeffrey Carroll (@J30Carroll) June 13, 2018