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After playing out two ten-day contracts with the Brooklyn Nets, former Canton Charge guard Jorge Gutierrez has signed a multi-year contract with the team. The pact, which includes a small guarantee for next season, will allow the Nets to keep Gutierrez in town through training camp this coming fall (for the second straight season) before making a formal decision on his contract for the upcoming season.
Having appeared in 35 games with Canton this season, it's safe to say he spent a good chunk of the year in the D-League. With that in mind, will Gutierrez still be able to earn a considerable raise for his time in the NBA, given how late it is in the regular season?
Apparently so. According to our good friends at NetsDaily.com, Gutierrez will net himself a salary in the six-figure range after playing out his ten-day contracts and signing the most recent deal. See below:
Counting both 10-day deals and what he will receive, pro-rated, as a rookie for the remainder of the year, Gutierrez will earn a little more than $120,000 in 2014. If he makes the team next fall, he'll receive another $816,482. The Nets would then control Gutierrez's Early Bird rights.
Such an amount assumedly does not (also) take into account his D-League salary from this season as well.
Waiting around in the D-League for that coveted call from an NBA team can prove to be a tricky thing. As prospects strut their stuff in the minor league, hoping that someone takes notice, they're doing so while making a minimal salary and also turning their backs on more lucrative deals overseas.
Still, though the salary a player like Gutierrez will earn the rest of the way is nowhere near what NBA players earn at the minimum rate over a full season, it nevertheless provides him with ample security and comfort like that of the everyday working individual.
Despite all of the existent benefits there are to playing in the D-League for a couple of years as one aims to make a name for himself, some simply can't afford (literally) to stick around in the minor league for more than one season. Having said that, signing just a ten-day or two, or even netting a contract towards the end of the season (a la Gutierrez or the Kings' Willie Reed) can at the very least, allow such young guns to exhale a little bit.
At that point, choosing to play in the D-League pays dividends and seems all the more worthwhile.