The Denver Nuggets have won two of their last three games following a six game losing streak and somehow, with their 14-24 record, they are only 3.5 games out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference. The Nuggets have recently gotten healthy for basically the first time all season but they do have an open roster spot to work with. The Nuggets plan to fill that open roster spot by giving out a 10-day contract to Sean Kilpatrick, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
The Nuggets had an open spot on the roster after they cut Kostas Papanikolaou for the second time this season. Papanikolaou was cut so that his salary did not become guaranteed before the Jan. 10 deadline hit and it gave the Nuggets the ability to audition some players on 10-day deals.
Kilpatrick will reportedly be the first to get a 10-day deal with the Nuggets and he is certainly deserving of the opportunity. The 26-year-old guard was a four-year standout at Cincinnati where he was named a first team All-American as a senior when he averaged 20.6 points per game. Kilpatrick was not selected in the 2014 NBA Draft but he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Golden State Warriors before being cut days before the season began.
Kilpatrick did get a 10-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves last season and during that time he appeared in four games averaging 5.5 points in 18 minutes per game. Kilpatrick didn't shoot well in his short stint with the Timberwolves and therefore did not get a second 10-day contract. This offseason Kilpatrick was with the New Orleans Pelicans in training camp but was also unable to make their final roster.
Kilpatrick has spent this season in the D-League with the Delaware 87ers where he has been outstanding. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard has averaged 27.1 points and 4.1 rebounds on 48 percent shooting from the field and 45 percent shooting from three in 22 games this season.
At this point Kilpatrick has shown that he has mastered the D-League and he has nothing left to prove there so it will be interesting to see if he can continue his great season in the NBA. As is usually the case with players on 10-day contracts, Kilpatrick is not guaranteed to have a role but one potential avenue to playing time is by taking Randy Foye's minutes. Foye is shooting just 34 percent from the field on the season but continues to see regular minutes so maybe Kilpatrick could cut into those during this 10-day stretch.
