Washington Wizards wingman Jarell Eddie (L). (Photo : Getty Images)
Undrafted wingman Jarell Eddie and his current mother club Washington Wizards have agreed to delay the deadline of the guarantee date provision in his current contract until the start of the new season in October from the 15th day of his month.
The 24-year-old former Virginia Tech standout was signed by the Wizards to a two-year, $1.5 million deal in December of last year, which included a stipulation that "would fully guarantee his $980,431 salary for 2016-17, if he was not waived on or before July 15", as reported by ESPN.
Eddie had already earned the first $561,716 of his contract last season and is set to receive the remaining $980,431 if Washington keeps him until July 15 of this year.
However, the Wizards convinced Eddie to extend the deadline up to the new season's opening in late October and the Tampa, Florida native reportedly obliged, as per CSN Mid-Atlantic. It means that his contract is still not guaranteed even if July 15 had already passed and so he must wait whether Washington will release him or not up to the first day of the 2016-2017 season.
ESPN noted that there are only 12 players out of the allowable 15 in the current Wizards roster who has "fully guaranteed salaries for next season", and so extending Eddie's guarantee deadline gives the squad a little bit of roster flexibility moving through the last stretches of the offseason's wheelings and dealings.
The report also said that "based on his play during the Las Vegas Summer League, the backup guard appears to be a lock to make Washington's opening night roster", which could explain the reason why Eddie is confident about the deadline extension.
In five exhibition games this summer, the former NBA D-League Three-Point Contest champion had averaged strong numbers of 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists, which could land him a spot in new Wizards head coach Scott Brooks' roster as a backup wing next season.
After coming in as an undrafted player for the Atlanta Hawks in 2014, Eddie had played only one compete season in the NBA so far and it is with the Wizards last season. He averaged 2.4 points and 0.9 boards in only 5.7 minutes of action per game in 26 games for Washington.
