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Community Shootaround: Best, Worst Draft Lottery Outcomes

May 11th, 2025 at 8:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Fans of NBA teams who own a pick (or two) in this year’s lottery will obviously be rooting for their favorite club to get lucky on Monday and claim the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, putting them in position to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg.

But what about the fans who don’t have a personal rooting interest in Monday’s event? What outcome should they be hoping for? Would it be more interesting for Flagg to become the centerpiece of a rebuilding team that badly needs one, like the Jazz or Wizards? Or would it be more fun to see him join a team with some established talent that only ended up high in the lottery due to injuries, like the Pelicans or Sixers?

Here are all the teams that have a shot at the No. 1 pick, as our breakdown of the lottery odds indicates:

  • Utah Jazz (14%): The Jazz have made five first-round picks in the past two drafts, but none of those players looks like an obvious franchise cornerstone. They bottomed out this season in the hopes of landing one.
  • Washington Wizards (14%): If the Wizards ended up with the first overall pick, they’d be adding Flagg to a young core that includes Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, and Bub Carrington.
  • Charlotte Hornets (14%): The Hornets almost certainly would’ve been a lottery team even if they’d been healthy in 2024/25, but injuries to key players like LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams are the main reason they’re this high in the lottery standings.
  • New Orleans Pelicans (12.5%): Perhaps no team was hit harder by the injury bug this past year than the Pelicans, whose decision on Zion Williamson‘s future (keep or trade) would be all the more interesting if they were able to add Flagg.
  • Philadelphia 76ers (10.5%): While Joel Embiid‘s health remains a major question mark going forward, no Eastern Conference team would want the Sixers to get the chance to add Flagg to a group that features Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey.
  • Brooklyn Nets (9%): The Nets reacquired control of their first-round pick from Houston last offseason, anticipating that they’d be in this position. That trade would pay off in a massive way if they get lucky on lottery night.
  • Toronto Raptors (7.5%): The Raptors have a crowded forward depth chart already, with Brandon Ingram joining Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. Adding Flagg to the mix would create a pretty unbalanced roster, but they’d absolutely welcome that problem.
  • San Antonio Spurs (6.7%): Besides their own pick (6.0%), the Spurs also control the Hawks’ first-rounder (0.7%), giving them two outside shots at No. 1. Given that the Spurs won the lottery for Victor Wembanyama just two years ago, it would feel a little unfair for them to luck into Flagg too, but that duo would be very fun to watch together.
  • Houston Rockets (3.8%): The 52-win Rockets, who control Phoenix’s first-round pick, have no shortage of young talent on their roster already. Winning the lottery would be a case of the rich getting richer, especially considering that Houston also has extra future draft assets that could be used as trade chips for additional upgrades.
  • Portland Trail Blazers (3.7%): Portland’s young core features plenty of intriguing talent, including Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, and Scoot Henderson, but they’d love to add one more long-term keeper to that group before they start trying to contend. For what it’s worth, the Hawks moved up from this spot in the lottery standings to No. 1 last year.
  • Dallas Mavericks (1.8%): Jumping up to No. 1 might be karmic justice for fans in Dallas, who were devastated by this year’s Luka Doncic trade. But would it feel right for general manager Nico Harrison to be rewarded with a new franchise player after making that Doncic deal? Either way, adding Flagg to a roster that features Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving would certainly qualify as intriguing.
  • Chicago Bulls (1.7%): The Bulls have begun leaning into a rebuild this past year, having traded away Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine. They’ll probably need to tear things down further if they want to have a legitimate shot at a top pick, but you never know.
  • Sacramento Kings (0.8%): The Kings’ top-12 protected pick will likely be sent to Atlanta at No. 13, but there’s a 0.8% chance of them moving up to No. 1. After a tumultuous year that saw Sacramento fire head coach Mike Brown and GM Monte McNair and trade star point guard De’Aaron Fox, new head of basketball operations Scott Perry would love to begin his tenure by seeing this long shot of less than 1-in-100 come through.

We want to know what you think. Outside of your favorite team, which club would you most like to see win the draft lottery on Monday evening? Which outcome would be a worst-case scenario, in your view?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

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Hoops Rumors Glossary: Cap Holds

May 10th, 2025 at 1:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have just over $131MM in guaranteed money committed to player salaries for 2025/26. However, even though next season’s salary cap is expected to come in above $154MM, Houston won’t begin the 2025 offseason with $24MM+ in cap room to spend.

In fact, the Rockets technically won’t open the new league year with any cap space at all. Each of Houston’s own free agents will be assigned a free agent amount – or “cap hold” – until the player signs a new contract or the Rockets renounce his rights.

The general purpose of a cap hold is to prevent teams from using room under the cap to sign free agents before using Bird rights to re-sign their own free agents. If a team wants to take advantage of its cap space, it can renounce the rights to its own free agents, eliminating those cap holds. However, doing so means the team will no longer hold any form of Bird rights for those players — if the team wants to re-sign those free agents, it would have to use its cap room or another kind of cap exception.

The following criteria are used for determining the amount of a free agent’s cap hold:

  • First-round pick coming off rookie contract: 300% of the player’s previous salary if prior salary was below league average; 250% of previous salary if prior salary was above league average.
  • Bird player: 190% of previous salary (if below league average) or 150% (if above average).
  • Early Bird player: 130% of previous salary.
  • Non-Bird player: 120% of previous salary.
  • Minimum-salary player: Two-year veteran’s minimum salary, unless the free agent only has one year of experience, in which case it’s the one-year veteran’s minimum.
  • Two-way player: One-year veteran’s minimum salary.

A cap hold for a restricted free agent can vary based on his contract status. A restricted free agent’s cap hold is either his free agent amount as determined by the criteria mentioned above or the amount of his qualifying offer, whichever is greater.

No cap hold can exceed the maximum salary for which a player can sign. For example, the cap hold for an Early Bird player with a salary above the league average is generally 130% of his previous salary, as noted above. But for an Early Bird player like Rockets guard Fred VanVleet, whose cap charge is $42,846,615 this season, 130% of his previous salary would be approximately $55.7MM, well beyond his projected maximum salary.

Instead, assuming VanVleet’s team option is declined by Houston, his cap hold would be equivalent to the maximum salary for a player with between seven and nine years of NBA experience. Based on a projected cap of $154,647,000, that figure works out to $46,394,100. If the Rockets turn down VanVleet’s option and intend to re-sign him, that cap hold would remain on their books until his new deal is official and his new cap hit replaces the hold.

One unusual case involves players on rookie contracts whose third- or fourth-year options are declined. The amount of their declined option becomes their cap hold, and if the player’s team wants to re-sign him, his starting salary can’t exceed that amount.

For instance, the Grizzlies declined Jake LaRavia‘s 2025/26 fourth-year option last fall, then traded him to the Kings in February. Because LaRavia’s rookie scale option was turned down, Sacramento won’t be able to offer him a starting salary this offseason worth more than $5,163,127, the amount of that option. That figure is also his cap hold.

That rule is in place so a team can’t circumvent the rookie scale and decline its option in an effort to give the player a higher salary. It applies even if the player is traded after his option is declined, but only to the club the player is part of at season’s end. In other words, because LaRavia finished the year with the Kings, Sacramento is prohibited from offering him a starting salary greater than $5,163,127 as a free agent, but any other team – including Memphis – could exceed that figure.

If a team holds the rights to fewer than 12 players, cap holds worth the rookie minimum salary are assigned to fill out the roster. So, even if a front office chooses to renounce its rights to all of its free agents and doesn’t have any players under contract, the team wouldn’t be able to fully clear its cap.

An incomplete roster charge in 2025/26 projects to be worth $1,272,870, meaning a team without any guaranteed salary or any other cap holds would have closer to $139MM in cap room than $154MM+ due to its 12 rookie minimum holds.

A player who has been selected in the draft but has not yet officially signed his rookie contract only has a cap hold if he was a first-round selection. A cap hold for a first-round pick is equivalent to 120% of his rookie scale amount, based on his draft position. An unsigned second-round pick doesn’t have a cap hold.

Cap holds aren’t removed from a team’s books until the player signs a new contract or has his rights renounced by the club. For example, the Warriors are still carrying cap holds on their books for retired players like Matt Barnes and David West, who never signed new contracts since playing for Golden State nearly a decade ago.

Keeping those cap holds gives teams some degree of cushion to help them remain above the cap and take advantage of the mid-level exception and trade exceptions, among other advantages afforded capped-out teams. If and when the Warriors want to maximize their cap room, they’ll renounce Barnes and West, but they’ve remained over the cap – and haven’t needed to remove those holds – since those players became free agents in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.

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Community Shootaround: Are NBA’s Top Seeds In Trouble?

May 6th, 2025 at 8:27am CST by Luke Adams

The second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs are off to an unexpected start, with the league’s top three regular season teams all dropping the first game of their respective series.

The 64-win Cavaliers, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, fell to the Pacers on Sunday, and the No. 2 Celtics followed suit on Monday by losing to the Knicks. In Monday’s late game, the Thunder, who led the league with 68 regular season wins and dominated Memphis in round one, blew a late-game lead to the Nuggets and lost Game 1.

None of the three games were one-sided. The Pacers and Cavaliers were neck-and-neck through three-and-a-half quarters before Indiana pulled away late in the game; the Knicks required overtime to sneak past the Celtics; and the Thunder fell to the Nuggets on an Aaron Gordon three-pointer in the game’s final seconds.

It’s also worth noting that the Pacers are unlikely to make nearly 53% of their three-point tries (19-of-36) on a regular basis, as they did in Game 1. The Celtics probably aren’t going to miss 45 three-point attempts (they went 15-of-60) very often. And the Thunder could have easily won Game 1 if not for some questionable fouling decisions in crunch time.

In other words, the higher seeds may have no reason to panic — it’s not as if their opponents found glaring weaknesses that can be exploited for the rest of the series. Still, the margin for error in a competitive matchup can be slim, and the fact that those three higher seeds have all given up home-court advantage already could come back to haunt them later in the series.

Of the three teams who trail 1-0 in their respective series, the Cavaliers appear to be in the most danger due in large part to their injury situation. Darius Garland has been out since Game 2 of the first round due to a toe injury and is considered questionable to play in Game 2 vs. Indiana. Evan Mobley (ankle) and De’Andre Hunter (thumb) have joined him on the injury report with the same questionable designation after suffering injuries in Game 1.

Still, oddsmakers don’t appear overly concerned about the top seeds just yet. Despite the fact that they’re trailing in their series, the Cavaliers (-230), Thunder (-325), and Celtics (-355) are listed as solid favorites to advance by BetOnline.ag at the time of this writing. By comparison, the Timberwolves are just a -200 favorite against the lower-seeded Warriors despite that series not yet getting underway.

We want to know what you think. Do you still expect the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Thunder to make it through to the conference finals, or have the Game 1 results of any of those three series made you more inclined to pick an underdog to advance?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts.

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Poll: Who Will Win Rockets/Warriors Game 7?

May 3rd, 2025 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite going up against a No. 2 seed as a No. 7 team that required a play-in victory to clinch a playoff spot, the Warriors were considered by oddsmakers to be solid favorites in their first-round series against the Rockets.

In a competitive Western Conference, Golden State finished the regular season with only four fewer wins than Houston and was the better team after adding Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, ranking third in the NBA in wins (23) and net rating (+9.2) between Butler’s debut and the end of the season. The Warriors also had a major edge in experience over the Rockets, whose young core would be playing in its first postseason series.

Through four games, it looked like the oddsmakers were right. The Warriors held a 3-1 series lead and had deployed their defense (ranked No. 1 in the NBA since Butler’s debut) to great effect, holding the Rockets to just 94.7 points per game in Houston’s three losses.

But the Rockets may have figured something out during the last two games, both of which they led from nearly start to finish. As the Warriors struggled to find five-man units they liked, subbing out starting guard Brandin Podziemski in Game 6 for Gary Payton II, Houston has found success with bigger lineups featuring center Steven Adams, who was a +30 in 48 minutes during those two victories.

And while it may not be sustainable, Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet has looked more like Stephen Curry than Curry himself in Games 5 and 6, knocking down 10-of-15 three-pointers (66.7%) and outscoring his Warriors counterpart by a 55-42 margin.

Jalen Green, Houston’s leading scorer during the season, still hasn’t found his groove in the playoffs — outside of his 38-point outburst in Game 2, he has averaged just 9.4 PPG on 30.2% shooting in the other five games. The Warriors also still have the experience advantage, as Curry, Butler, and Draymond Green are no strangers to Game 7 showdowns, whereas Rockets youngsters like Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, and Jabari Smith will be experiencing one for the first time.

But the Rockets have the momentum, they have the home-court advantage, and they’ve made Golden State look old and tired over the last couple games, as Marcus Thompson II writes for The Athletic. Curry continues to battle a thumb issue, while Butler is coming off a pelvic contusion. It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if the veteran Warriors bring their A-games on Sunday, but it’s also unclear how much they have left in the tank.

With all that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that oddsmakers are giving a slight edge to Houston — according to BetOnline.ag, the Rockets are 2.5-point favorites.

We want to know what you think. Will the Warriors hold off the young, upstart Rockets, or will Houston complete its comeback from a 3-1 deficit and set up a second-round matchup against Minnesota?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to make your predictions and share your thoughts!

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Several Teams Promoting Interim Head Coaches, Forgoing Searches

May 3rd, 2025 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

It’s not uncommon for several NBA teams to be on the lookout for new head coaches each spring. During the 2022 offseason, four clubs hired new coaches; that number increased to six in 2023 and was six again in 2024.

It looked like that would trend would continue in 2025. The Kings made a coaching change in December 2024, with the Grizzlies and Nuggets following suit in March and April, respectively. The Suns fired Mike Budenholzer once their season ended and longtime Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich stepped down from his position for health reasons.

Despite the fact that five teams have parted ways with their head coaches in the past four-and-a-half months, only one of those clubs is currently conducting a head coaching search.

After finishing the season with a 27-24 under interim head coach Doug Christie, who reportedly had support from team owner Vivek Ranadive, the Kings opted to name Christie the permanent replacement for Mike Brown, finalizing a new multiyear contract agreement with him earlier this week.

The Grizzlies took the same path with Taylor Jenkins‘ in-season replacement, Tuomas Iisalo, removing his interim tag this week and announcing that he would be keeping the job.

In San Antonio, Mitch Johnson was technically the acting head coach and didn’t hold the interim title — that’s really just a technicality that reflects the fact that Popovich was still hoping to return at some point. But when Popovich decided to call it a career, the Spurs wasted no time confirming that Johnson would remain in the role and they wouldn’t be interviewing anyone else.

The Nuggets are still alive in the playoffs, so it’s possible – especially if they lose Game 7 of their first-round series to the Clippers on Saturday – that they could launch a full-fledged coaching search, with interim coach David Adelman receiving consideration as part of that search. But Adelman is widely respected within the organization, including by stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, so there’s a chance that Denver just sticks with him — especially if he leads the team to at least the second round of the postseason.

It’s not out of the question that other teams could make coaching changes this spring. However, most teams whose seasons are over have had time to think about it and probably would have made their move by now if they planned to do so. Willie Green of the Pelicans is one coach to monitor from this group, though one recent report said the “prevailing expectation” is that he’ll be retained by new head of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

While there has been no indication that a change is in the cards for either the Bucks or Hawks, Doc Rivers is another head coach worth keeping an eye on, as is Quin Snyder, who received a strong endorsement from general manager Landry Fields last month, only for Fields to be fired by Atlanta a few days later.

As for the teams still alive in the postseason, it seems relatively safe to assume that Kenny Atkinson, Joe Mazzulla, Rick Carlisle, Mark Daigneault, Chris Finch, Tyronn Lue, Ime Udoka, and Steve Kerr aren’t going anywhere unless they choose to.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is perhaps the most at risk in this group, but he likely relieved some of the pressure he was facing by getting past Detroit in the first round. New York will enter the conference semifinals against Boston as a significant underdog, so unless the Knicks are embarrassed in that series, a coaching change may not be in their plans.

If no other teams replace their coaches this spring, it would leave the Suns in position to take their time with their own search, knowing they aren’t in danger of having their top choice poached by a rival team. Reports have already indicated that Phoenix plans to be patient as it seeks its fourth head coach in four seasons — the team is expected to identify 14 or 15 candidates, then pare that list down to a smaller group of finalists.

While there haven’t been any reports yet about candidates who have secured meetings or interviews with the Suns, the following names have been linked to the team’s coaching vacancy by various reporters:

  • Cavaliers assistants Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott
  • Mavericks assistants Sean Sweeney and Jared Dudley
  • Rockets assistants Royal Ivey and Ben Sullivan
  • Pelicans assistant James Borrego
  • Thunder assistant Dave Bliss
  • Heat assistant Chris Quinn
  • Former Kings coach Mike Brown
  • The Suns’ own assistant David Fizdale
  • Former Suns assistant (and current BYU head coach) Kevin Young
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Poll: Who Will Win Nuggets/Clippers Game 7?

May 2nd, 2025 at 11:36pm CST by Luke Adams

As a result of the Rockets’ win over the Warriors on Friday night, we have two Game 7 matchups on tap for this weekend. Golden State will head to Houston as the Western Conference’s No. 2 and No. 7 seeds battle it out on Sunday for the right to face the Timberwolves in conference semifinals.

But before we get that last showdown between the Rockets and Warriors, we’ll get another Western Conference Game 7, with the Nuggets hosting the Clippers on Saturday for the right to face the Thunder in round two.

The first-round series between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the West has been a back-and-forth affair. After narrowly squeaking past the Clippers in overtime in Game 1, the Nuggets dropped two games in a row, losing Game 3 by 34 points in Los Angeles. The Clippers looked like the heavy favorites at that point, but Denver bounced back with two consecutive wins to reclaim a 3-2 lead before L.A. evened things up with a 111-105 home win on Thursday.

Nikola Jokic has been his usual dominant self for the Nuggets, averaging a triple-double through the team’s first six playoff games and making 50.9% of his shots, including 44.8% of his three-pointers. Jamal Murray has been reliable too, contributing 24.0 points and 6.5 assists with a .482/.432/.938 shooting line.

But Denver lacks depth and its supporting cast has been hit and miss. Starting forward Michael Porter Jr. has been held to seven points or fewer in three separate games, while Christian Braun – a Most Improved Player candidate who averaged 15.4 PPG with a .397 3PT% during the regular season – has seen his postseason marks drop to 11.2 PPG with a .250 3PT%.

While Russell Westbrook has given the Nuggets some good minutes off the bench, they haven’t gotten much from their other reserves — in Denver’s three losses, the non-Westbrook bench players scored a total of 15 points in 95 combined minutes.

The Clippers, meanwhile, have gotten a big boost from a healthy Kawhi Leonard, who has frequently showed the form that helped him earn Finals MVP awards earlier in his career with the Spurs and Raptors. Leonard has averaged 25.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game on .545/.394/.741 shooting.

Los Angeles’ other star, James Harden, has been less consistent. After a 32-point outing in Game 1, he averaged 16.0 points per game on 41.2% shooting through the next four contests before bouncing back with a 28-point showing in Game 6.

The Clippers have gotten what they’ve needed from center Ivica Zubac and swingman Norman Powell, but have had to experiment to find other effective combinations and lineups to complement their top four players. As we detailed earlier on Friday, head coach Tyronn Lue played starting guard Kris Dunn for just 10 minutes and gave Ben Simmons his first DNP-CD of the series in Game 6 in order to improving the club’s offensive spacing.

The change was an effective one — veteran forward Nicolas Batum played a series-high 34 minutes and the Clippers were a +11 when he was on the court. Veteran wings Derrick Jones and Bogdan Bogdanovic also give the team good minutes off the bench.

The oddsmakers at BetOnline.ag currently list the Nuggets as 1.5-point favorites for Saturday’s deciding game, but that’s likely more about the home-court factor than a belief that Denver is the legitimately better team. The Nuggets have a strong track record in the mile-high elevation at Ball Arena, while the Clippers had a 20-21 regular season road record and have lost two of three games in Denver this series.

We want to know what you think. Are you picking the Nuggets or the Clippers to win on Saturday and advance to round two? Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section to share your predictions and thoughts!

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Players Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions In 2025

April 30th, 2025 at 1:03pm CST by Luke Adams

After the NBA’s 2025/26 league year begins this summer and the July moratorium ends, players eligible for free agency will be able to begin officially finalizing contract agreements with suitors. In addition to those free agents, another group of players will also become eligible to sign new deals.

For players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts, the first day of the new league year (July 1) is the first day they can agree to rookie scale extensions. Those players, who were all 2022 first-round selections, will have until the day before the 2025/26 regular season starts to finalize long-term agreements with their current teams.

Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to five years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in 2026/27. If they don’t sign extensions during the coming offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

Eleven players who were eligible for rookie scale extensions during the 2024 offseason signed new deals, continuing a recent trend. We’ve seen an uptick in rookie extensions during the last several offseasons as more teams look to lock up their promising young players in advance of free agency. Since 2020, at least 10 players have signed rookie extensions every year, topping out at a record-setting 14 in 2023.

We should expect several more rookie scale extensions to be signed between July and October of this year.

Here are the players who will be eligible to sign rookie scale extensions during the 2025 offseason:

The following players were selected in the first round of the 2022 draft along with the players listed above. However, they aren’t eligible for rookie scale extensions this year for the reasons noted:

  • Patrick Baldwin: Fourth-year option declined by Wizards in 2024; waived in 2025.
  • MarJon Beauchamp: Fourth-year option declined by Bucks in 2024; waived in 2025.
  • Johnny Davis: Fourth-year option declined by Wizards in 2024; waived in 2025.
  • AJ Griffin: Waived by Rockets in 2024.
  • Jake LaRavia: Fourth-year option declined by Grizzlies in 2024.
  • Wendell Moore: Fourth-year option declined by Pistons in 2024; waived in 2025.
  • David Roddy: Fourth-year option declined by Hawks in 2024; waived in 2025.
  • TyTy Washington: Waived by Thunder in 2023.
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NBA Team Option Decisions For 2025/26

April 29th, 2025 at 9:08am CST by Luke Adams

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 2025/26, making note of whether they’re exercised or declined.

True team options are different than non-guaranteed salaries, which aren’t listed in the space below. Non-guaranteed salaries are less restrictive and provide a little more flexibility than team options, which clubs must act upon by a specific date (June 29) each year.

However, 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 2025/26, since those third- and fourth-year options function differently than team options on standard veteran contracts. Those ’25/26 rookie scale team option decisions were made during the 2024 offseason, and can be found here.

The standard team options for 2025/26 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 to note the latest decisions as they’re reported and/or announced.

Unless otherwise indicated, a player’s salary will become guaranteed once his team option is exercised.

Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

  • JD Davison ($2,270,735): Exercised
    • If Davison’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.

Brooklyn Nets

  • Keon Johnson ($2,349,578): Exercised
    • If Johnson’s option is exercised, his salary would be partially guaranteed for $271,614.
  • Jalen Wilson ($2,221,677): Exercised
    • If Wilson’s option is exercised, his salary would be partially guaranteed for $88,075.
  • Tyrese Martin ($2,191,897): Exercised
    • If Martin’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.
  • Drew Timme ($1,955,377): Exercised
    • If Timme’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • Chuma Okeke ($2,546,675): Declined
    • Note: If Okeke’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.

Golden State Warriors

Houston Rockets

Indiana Pacers

  • Tony Bradley ($2,940,876): Exercised
    • Note: If Bradley’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.

Los Angeles Lakers

  • Jordan Goodwin ($2,349,578): Exercised
    • If Goodwin’s option is exercised, his salary would be partially guaranteed for $25,006.

Miami Heat

Minnesota Timberwolves

New Orleans Pelicans

New York Knicks

  • P.J. Tucker ($3,468,960): Declined
    • Note: If Tucker’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.
  • Ariel Hukporti ($1,955,377): Exercised
    • Note: If Hukporti’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • Ajay Mitchell ($3,000,000): Declined
    • If Mitchell’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.
  • Jaylin Williams ($2,187,451): Declined
    • Note: If Williams’ option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.

Orlando Magic

Philadelphia 76ers

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

  • Rayan Rupert ($2,221,677): Exercised
    • Note: If Rupert’s option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed until July 1.

Sacramento Kings

  • Keon Ellis ($2,301,587): Exercised
    • Note: If Ellis’ option is exercised, his salary would remain non-guaranteed.
  • Isaac Jones ($1,955,377): Exercised
    • Note: There have been conflicting reports on whether or not Jones’ salary would remain non-guaranteed if his option is exercised.
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NBA Player Option Decisions For 2025/26

April 26th, 2025 at 3:15pm CST by Luke Adams

A number of 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. Early deadlines, reported by ESPN’s Bobby Marks, are noted below.

Chicago Bulls

Dallas Mavericks

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Super-Max/Rose Rule Candidates To Watch After Mobley Cashed In

April 25th, 2025 at 8:49pm CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed on Thursday within our story about Evan Mobley earning Defensive Player of the Year honors, the award represented a major financial boon for the Cavaliers big man, who significantly increased the value of his contract extension by virtue of being named this season’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Mobley signed a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension last summer that included Rose Rule language. The Rose Rule allows a player and team to negotiate a maximum salary worth up to 30% of the cap (instead of the usual 25%) for a player with just four years of NBA experience if he makes an All-NBA team or wins the MVP or DPOY award.

Interestingly, Mobley’s rookie scale extension would’ve started at 27.5% of the cap in 2025/26 if he had made the All-NBA third team (instead of one of the first two teams) and hadn’t won Defensive Player of the Year.

Now that he has received DPOY recognition, it will instead start at 30%.

Here are the three scenarios that had been in play for Mobley, based on a projected 10% cap increase:

Year 25% of cap 27.5% of cap 30% of cap
2025/26 $38,661,750 $42,527,925 $46,394,100
2026/27 $41,754,690 $45,930,159 $50,105,628
2027/28 $44,847,630 $49,332,393 $53,817,156
2028/29 $47,940,570 $52,734,627 $57,528,684
2029/30 $51,033,510 $56,136,861 $61,240,212
Total $224,238,150 $246,661,965 $269,085,780

Mobley cashed in with his DPOY win, locking in a contract that projects to be worth in excess of $269MM over the next five seasons. Are there any other players who could join him by earning All-NBA nods this spring?

There’s only really one other guy who entered award season in the same boat as Mobley, waiting to see if his rookie scale extension worth 25% of the cap will increase to 30% of the cap. That player is Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham.

Cunningham looks like a pretty safe bet to be included on one of the All-NBA teams for 2024/25, and unlike Mobley, his contract doesn’t include any variable rates between 25% and 30% depending on which All-NBA team he makes. If Cunningham is a third-teamer, that would still be enough to bump his ’25/26 salary to 30% of the cap, matching Mobley’s deal.

Two other players signed Rose Rule extensions last offseason, but Magic forward Franz Wagner didn’t appear in enough games to qualify for All-NBA consideration and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes isn’t a serious candidate for the honor — their new contracts will start at 25% of next season’s cap.

There’s one other player to watch for potential super-max candidacy though — Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. would become eligible for a super-max (ie. “designated veteran“) contract extension worth up to 35% of the cap if he’s one of this season’s 15 All-NBA players. He looks like a solid bet to make the cut after serving as Memphis’ most reliable offensive weapon and earning DPOY votes.

If Jackson earns an All-NBA spot, the Grizzlies would have three options when they enter extension talks with him this offseason:

  1. They could offer him a raise of up to 40% off his current contract, but that likely wouldn’t be enough to get a deal done, since his salary in the final year of his current deal in 2025/26 is just $23.4MM, a relatively modest figure for an All-NBA caliber player.
  2. They could use cap room to renegotiate his ’25/26 salary in order to give him a raise and then extend him off of that figure. This is a legitimate option, given that the Grizzlies are in position to potentially carve out a little cap room.
  3. They could sign him to a super-max extension that starts anywhere between 30% and 35% of the cap. Although it’s typical for players who sign super-max deals to get the full 35%, a team doesn’t necessarily need to go that high — when Utah extended Rudy Gobert after he became super-max eligible with a Defensive Player of the Year win, for instance, his deal started at a little over 31% of the cap.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will also be eligible to sign a super-max contract extension this offseason — that would still be the case even if he doesn’t win this season’s MVP award or make an All-NBA team (he’ll almost certainly do both), since he achieved the performance criteria a year ago.

The Rose Rule and super-max performance criteria call for a player to earn All-NBA, MVP, or DPOY recognition in either the  preceding season or in two of the three preceding seasons, so Gilgeous-Alexander got there by making All-NBA teams in 2023 and 2024, even though he wouldn’t have enough years of service to sign his new deal until 2025.

No other stars are in position to meet that two-in-three-years criteria early this spring, like Gilgeous-Alexander did last year.

A player like Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, for example, is on track to make his second straight All-NBA team, but won’t meet the years-of-service criteria for a super-max extension until 2027. That means that even if he earns an All-NBA spot this year, Edwards will have to do so again in either 2026 or 2027 to be eligible to sign that deal in ’27, since the 2024 nod won’t be counted within the preceding three seasons at that time.

We’re likely still a few weeks away from learning this year’s full All-NBA results. A year ago, the league announced those teams on May 22.

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