Certain NBA contracts include player options in the final year. Those option years give the player the opportunity to either opt into the last year of his deal and finish out his contract or to decline the option and hit the free agent market a year early.
Several factors play a part in a player’s option decision. The value of the option salary is obviously crucial, as is the player’s performance in the season leading up to his decision.
The state of the NBA’s salary cap also often becomes a necessary consideration for players weighing their decisions. If the salary cap is projected to increase only modestly, or if not many teams around the league project to have cap room, a player may be more inclined to take the guaranteed money rather than trying his luck on the open market.
This year’s player options 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 spring and early summer to note the latest decisions as they’re reported or announced.
While some players may face earlier deadlines, all option decisions must be finalized by June 29 at 4:00 pm Central time.
Cleveland Cavaliers
- James Harden ($42,317,307)
- Note: If Harden opts in, his salary would be partially guaranteed ($13,317,307) until July 11.
Golden State Warriors
Draymond Green ($27,678,571)- Al Horford ($5,969,250)
- De’Anthony Melton ($3,451,779)
Houston Rockets
- Fred VanVleet ($25,000,000)
Los Angeles Clippers
- Bradley Beal ($5,621,700)
Los Angeles Lakers
- Austin Reaves ($14,898,786)
- Deandre Ayton ($8,104,000)
- Marcus Smart ($5,390,700)
Memphis Grizzlies
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($21,621,500)
Miami Heat
- Andrew Wiggins ($30,169,644)
Milwaukee Bucks
- Kevin Porter Jr. ($5,390,700)
- Gary Trent Jr. ($3,881,960)
- Gary Harris ($3,815,861)
- Taurean Prince ($3,815,861)
- Jericho Sims ($2,801,346)
New York Knicks
- Jose Alvarado ($4,500,000)
Sacramento Kings
- Zach LaVine ($48,967,380)
Toronto Raptors
- Sandro Mamukelashvili ($2,801,346)
Washington Wizards
- Trae Young ($48,967,380)
- D’Angelo Russell ($5,969,250)
Harden, Draymond, Lavine, Trae, FVV, KCP and likely Wiggins will all opt-in, with many of them getting traded at some point between that moment and the next trade deadline.
Reaves, Smart, Melton, Porter Jr and Russell probably opt out and test free agency
Alvarado will opt out. This does show why players with options does it because if the option is a large amount the opt in.
Front offices are dumb for giving player options and agents are top notch for getting them included. And then it just saddles team with longer contracts as players use them as leverage a longer contract and teams double down on a bad player (like Julius Randle) to get out of that player options and overpay.
As you can see many are just insurance policies in case the player gets hurt. The ones over $20 million make no sense because seem like most are way over paid.