Kris Dunn is opting into his contract for next season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who hears from sources that the Hawks guard will pick up his 2021/22 option, worth just over $5MM.
The Hawks signed Dunn last offseason, envisioning him as a player who could share the backcourt with Trae Young and provide stout perimeter defense. However, injury woes derailed Dunn’s first year in Atlanta, as he was sidelined for most of the season while he recovered from ankle surgery.
Dunn made his Hawks debut in late April and ultimately appeared in just four regular season games and five playoff games, primarily in garbage time. In 2019/20, as a Bull, Dunn averaged 7.3 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.0 SPG in 51 contests (24.9 MPG).
Although Dunn is now under contract with the Hawks for next season, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be on the club’s opening-night roster in the fall. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link) suggests it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Dunn and his expiring $5MM contract traded during the offseason.
With Dunn’s decision in, we’re still awaiting word on six more player option decisions around the NBA, as our tracker shows.
Kris Dunn is trash. What a horrible trade that was the Bulls did.
The 1 that brought them their best player?
Yes! That one! Hot garbage!
Actually that trade brought them 2 of their top3 players, including 1 of the top guards in the league
Best player on a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in 5 years….
I wouldn’t mind at all if the Hawks bring back Dunn, Brandon Goodwin & Skylar Mays as the pg depth behind Trae. BG continues to improve & Mays showed that he has NBA ability & could show more with more pt. As far as Dunn he’s a guy who has potential to be a very good backup NBA pg, especially defensively which is exactly what we need. However there seems like there could be a chance to upgrade the backup pg spot & if so we should definitely look into that