League rules will force the Sixers to Sign from these Veterans this week, whether to a 10-day or rest-of-season contract…

Ever since Darius Bazley’s 10-day contract expired earlier this month, the shorthanded Sixers have been running with only 13 players on standard contracts and two open roster spots. That’s bound to change sometime this week, though.

The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement requires teams to have at least 14 players signed to standard contracts (aka, not two-way deals) from the first day of the regular season through the final day of their respective seasons. Teams can dip down to 12 or 13 players on standard contracts for only two weeks at a time, but no more than 28 days in total throughout a season.

Bazley’s 10-day deal expired at midnight on March 1, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, which means the Sixers have until Thursday to sign someone else to a 10-day or rest-of-season contract. They won’t be re-signing Bazley, though, as both he and Delaware Blue Coats center Kenneth Lofton Jr. signed three-year, non-guaranteed contracts with the Utah Jazz on Monday. (Maybe this is Danny Ainge’s revenge for the Sixers matching his Paul Reed offer sheet last summer?)

The Sixers might prefer to give one more 10-day contract out before signing someone to a rest-of-season deal. Unlikely-to-be-earned incentives in Buddy Hield’s contract could push them dangerously close to the luxury-tax line if he achieves all of them (which includes winning the NBA Finals), so they’re likely accounting for that.

Hield’s incentives add up to roughly $1.1 million, and the Sixers are less than $2 million below the $165.3 million tax line. Fortunately for them, rest-of-season minimum contracts descend in value with each passing day, so they’re now at no risk of crossing the tax line since they timed their remaining signings correctly.

If the Sixers signed two players to rest-of-season deals on Tuesday, March 12, they’d cost nearly $400,000 each. Even if Hield hits all of his remaining incentives, the Sixers would still be roughly $50,000 below the tax line with those two rest-of-season min deals as well.

The Sixers still have most of their mid-level exception, too. (They spent $2.8 million of it on Kyle Lowry, but it’s otherwise untouched.) They aren’t likely to sign anyone else to an above-minimum contract because of Hield’s incentives and their proximity to the tax line, but they could dip into the MLE to sign players to three- or four-year non-guaranteed deals, just like Bazley and Lofton did with the Jazz.

If Ricky Council IV is amenable to that type of contract, he seems like a no-brainer for one of the Sixers’ two open roster spots. He might not play when they’re at full strength, but he’s brought some much-needed physicality and toughness to a roster that’s otherwise largely bereft of it in the absence of Joel Embiid.

Embiid’s absence has exposed some cracks in their backup center rotation, and the Sixers are clearly exploring options there. On Friday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that they’re expected to meet and work out former Charlotte Hornets center Kai Jones, a 2021 first-round pick. The Hornets released Jones in October amidst a pattern of erratic behavior, and his Bahamas connection with Buddy Hield perhaps could give the Sixers a leg up on signing him if they feel he’s ready to resume his NBA career.

The Sixers might prefer to give Jones a 10-day contract before signing him to a rest-of-season deal just to see how he fits with their roster first. But if he’s resolved any off-court issues, he could be the sort of low-risk, high-reward signing that NBA teams will need to increasingly hit on under the new CBA.

If the Sixers pass on Jones, they could pursue another free-agent big like Chimezie Metu, Robin Lopez or old friend Nerlens Noel. Either way, they could use some additional help up front until Embiid returns. They figure to spend at least one of their two roster spots to shore up that spot.

We’ll find out about one of those signings within the next few days.