The Hornets have exercised their team option on forward Jalen McDaniels for the 2022/23 season, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). The option is worth $1,930,681.
[RELATED: NBA Team Option Decisions For 2022/23]
The decision doesn’t technically lock in that $1.93MM salary for McDaniels, since his contract remains non-guaranteed even with the option picked up. But as long as the 24-year-old remains under contract through August 1, he’ll receive his full guarantee.
A former second-round pick, McDaniels has emerged as a regular part of Charlotte’s rotation over the last two seasons. He has averaged 6.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG on .476/.357/.721 shooting in 102 games (17.6 MPG) during that time.
Assuming McDaniels plays out the ’22/23 season on his current deal, he’ll become eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.
While the Hornets have no other outstanding player or team option decisions looming, the club will have some decisions to make on players without fully guaranteed contracts. Like McDaniels, big man Nick Richards has a non-guaranteed salary ($1.78MM) for next season, while only $5MM of Kelly Oubre‘s $12.6MM salary is guaranteed.
Really a fan of the collection of options at the 3/4 they have, and hope to see them get the talent out of Bouknight off the bench this year. I’ve been a fan of Charlotte’s situation these last 2 years, and think if they hadnt had unfortunate injuries at poor timing, they would have done more