FRIDAY, 9:05am: Houston has indeed picked up the options, as the RealGM transactions log shows, even though the team still hasn’t made a formal announcement.
THURSDAY, 5:00pm: The Rockets have picked up the fourth-year team options on the rookie contracts of Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reports, though the team has yet to make a public acknowledgement. Jones will earn $2,489,530 during the 2015/16 season, and Motiejunas will pocket $2,288,205. These moves will give Houston a total of $55,137,043 in guaranteed salary commitments for 2015/16, and that figure doesn’t include the team option on Kostas Papanikolaou for $4,797,664.
Jones was selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, and has been the Rockets starting power forward for much of the past two seasons. His career numbers over 97 games are 10.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 1.3 BPG. His career slash line is .533/.303/.615.
The 7’0″ Motiejunas was taken with the 20th overall pick back in the 2011 draft. He has appeared in 108 contests, including 17 as a starter, and has averaged 5.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG. His slash line is .448/.268/.613.