NBA Team Option Decisions For 2020/21

Having already created a space to track this offseason’s player option decisions, we’re turning our attention today to team options. Over the next couple months, we’ll use the space below to keep tabs on all the team options for 2020/21, making note of whether they’re picked up or declined.

True team options are somewhat rare in the NBA, since clubs have typically preferred to include a non-guaranteed year or two in player contracts. Non-guaranteed salaries are less restrictive and provide a little more flexibility than team options, which clubs must act upon by a specific date each year. Typically, that date falls in late June, but this year it will be October 17 if free agency isn’t further delayed.

Still, team options can be useful at the end of a contract, since turning down that option allows the team to retain some form of Bird rights on the player — waiving a player with a non-guaranteed salary doesn’t present that same opportunity. Additionally, a handful of contracts still don’t become fully guaranteed once an option is picked up, giving teams an extra level of flexibility.

The list below doesn’t include rookie scale team options for 2020/21, since those third- and fourth-year options function differently than team options on standard veteran contracts. Those ’20/21 rookie scale team option decisions were made during the 2019 offseason, and can be found here.

The standard team options for 2020/21 are listed below. This list – which can be found anytime under the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar on our desktop site or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu – will be updated throughout the fall to note the latest decisions.


Point Guards

Shooting Guards

Small Forwards

Power Forwards

Centers

Note: Options marked with an asterisk (*) won’t become fully guaranteed once they’re exercised, per Basketball Insiders and/or ESPN. If they’re exercised, they’ll become partially guaranteed or remain non-guaranteed until a later deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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