The Phoenix Suns made some moves earlier this season to cut down their roster and to ensure that certain players did not have their contracts guaranteed. These moves left the Suns with 13 players on their roster which gave them room for 10-day deals. Lorenzo Brown was the first player to get a 10-day contract and he has since signed a second 10-day deal. The newest recipient of a 10-day contract from the Suns will be Cory Jefferson, who was one of the Suns cuts earlier this season, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
Jefferson was a four year player at Baylor before being the last selection in the 2014 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs. Jefferson was then traded to the Brooklyn Nets on a draft-day deal and spent all of last season with Brooklyn where he had some nice moments. Jefferson appeared in 50 games for the Nets a season ago and averaged 12.4 points and 9.8 rebounds per 36 minutes.
This past offseason the Nets cut Jefferson after re-tooling their roster and he latched on with the Suns via a one year, non-guaranteed deal. Jefferson made the team out of training camp but did not have much of a role so the Suns cut him so that his salary for this season did not become guaranteed. So far this season Jefferson has appeared in six games, for a total of 28 minutes, and has scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Jefferson may have a chance to add to those numbers now though, as the Suns have massive injury issues at the power forward spot. Starter Jon Leuer is dealing with a back injury while Mirza Teletovic has a sprained ankle and we already know about the Markieff Morris drama. If Leuer or Teletovic have to miss any time at all it is very possible that Jefferson could see significant minutes and earn his way into the league full-time.
Jefferson is a 6-foot-9 power forward that isn't very polished on offense but he can crash the boards on both offense and defense. Jefferson's constant motor is what will get him a full-time NBA role so we will see if the 25-year-old forward has staying power this time around.
