Projecting 2022 NBA Player and Team Options

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertMay 26, 2022
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Derrick Favors of the Oklahoma City Thunder got a jump on “option season” by exercising his player option for the 2022-23 season well in advance of his deadline. Despite Favors’ early decision, there are dozens of other option decisions pending for the 2022-23 season.

We’ll go team-by-team through the remaining 39 decisions each player or team must make before their respective deadlines. Some of these are no-brainers, while others are legitimate debates. All will have an impact on their team’s cap space, luxury tax bill or roster moves during the 2022 offseason.

Atlanta Hawks

  • No option decisions pending

Boston Celtics

  • Sam Hauser - $1.6M team option due 6/29/22: Boston is likely to pick up their team option for Hauser. His contract will then shift to become partially guaranteed, but the Celtics like what he’s shown as a shooter while on his minimum deal.
  • Juwan Morgan – $1.8M team option due 6/29/22: The Celtics are more likely to move on from Morgan than Hauser, but it may not come via his option. If Boston exercises their option for Morgan, his deal becomes non-guaranteed. He’s good enough to make it at least to training camp on that deal.

Brooklyn Nets

  • Kessler Edwards - $1.6M team option due 6/29/22: The Nets did well when they converted Edwards to get a little flexibility. That said, he was part of their rotation for most of the second half of the season and he played for them in the playoffs. Edwards will be back.
  • Kyrie Irving - $36.9M player option due 6/29/22: There are reports that Brooklyn isn’t committed to re-signing Irving long-term. Despite that, look for Irving to still opt out. Even on a short-term deal, he stands to make more money than he would by opting in. That next deal however…
  • Patty Mills - $6.2M player option due 6/29/22: Mills is in a bit of a tricky spot. He was very good for the Nets in the first half of the year, before playing too many minutes wore him down. At 34 years old, will he get more than $6.2 million option? Probably not. He’ll be back too.

Charlotte Hornets

  • Jalen McDaniels - $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: McDaniels is a relative bargain on the final season of the four-year deal he signed as a rookie. But that doesn’t mean his option will definitely be picked up. Instead, look for Charlotte to decline McDaniels’ option and to make him a restricted free agent in 2022. That will give the Hornets control over McDaniels’ free agency this summer vs the unrestricted status he’d have in 2023.

Chicago Bulls

  • Tony Bradley - $2.0M player option due 6/29/22: Bradley is in a bit of a weird spot. Normally a backup big that is only 24 years old would opt out. But this summer there are a lot of veteran bigs on the market, and a lot of them are better than Bradley. He’d be looking at another minimum deal, so he’ll likely opt in and stay in Chicago.

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • Dean Wade- $1.9M team option due 6/24/22: Wade became a key rotation player for the Cavs over the previous two seasons. The question on his option is more about his long-term future in Cleveland. If the Cavs see Wade as someone they want to keep beyond next season, they’ll decline their option and make him a restricted free agent. If this is a year-to-year arrangement, Cleveland will pick up the option and bring back Wade for just above the veteran minimum.

Dallas Mavericks

  • Trey Burke - $3.3M player option due 6/29/22: Burke was only sometimes a part of the Mavs rotation this past regular season, and he’s barely appeared in the playoffs. He’ll be picking up his option, at which point he’ll become an expiring piece of salary-matching in a trade for Dallas.

Denver Nuggets

  • JaMychal Green - $8.2M player option due 6/20/22: JaMychal Green is likely going to opt in, as he’ll be hard-pressed to find that sort of money in a depressed free agent market. The good news for Denver? Green has a very early decision date, so the Nuggets will know pre-draft if he’s headed to free agency or not.
  • Jeff Green - $4.5M player option due 6/20/22: Jeff Green is basically in the same spot as JaMychal Green is, just for half the salary. Much like his same-surnamed frontcourt partner, Green will probably opt in. Even though he remains a productive player at age-32, Green probably won’t find as much money available on the open market.

Detroit Pistons

  • Hamidou Diallo - $5.2M team option due 6/28/22: Diallo remains a bit of an enigma. He hasn’t quite blossomed the way the Pistons hoped he would when they acquired him and then re-signed him. Given Detroit’s ability to create the most cap space in the NBA this summer, they’ll likely decline this option. But they may still re-sign Diallo later. There’s still a player in there somewhere.
  • Carsen Edwards- $1.8M team option due 6/29/22: Edwards was signed late in the season and given a second year, just in case he popped. He didn’t and this option will be declined.
  • Luka Garza - $1.6M team option due 6/28/22: Garza was initially on a Two-Way deal and converted when he showed promise early on. That sort of fizzled out rather quickly. This option will be declined, but Detroit may still re-sign Garza after they complete their other free agent work.
  • Frank Jackson - $3.2M team option due 6/28/22: Jackson is a lot like his teammates whom the Pistons hold options for in that he’ll get caught up in the cap space race. Jackson can play though, so declining his option comes with real risk that Detroit will lose him to another team.
  • Cory Joseph - $5.2M player option due 6/28/22: Joseph, unlike all of his teammates listed here, has a player option. That gives him the control. He seems to like being in Detroit, and he may find it hard to recoup the money he’d give up in a crowded point guard market. Look for Joseph to pick up his option.

Golden State Warriors

  • No option decisions pending

Houston Rockets

  • Jae’Sean Tate - $1.8M team option due 6/29/22: Tate has far outplayed his contract. But because the Rockets can still make Tate a restricted free agent in 2023, they’ll pick up their option and bring him back on the cheap for next season.
  • John Wall - $47.4M player option due 6/29/22: There isn’t a world that exists where Wall doesn’t pick up this player option. Not even in the MCU multiverse. A buyout after however…

Indiana Pacers

  • Oshae Brissett - $1.8M team option due 6/29/22: Brissett has developed into a player for the Pacers. It’s still unclear how much a part of the team’s future he is however. For that reason, declining his option to make him a restricted free agent is unlikely. The Pacers will pick up this option.

LA Clippers

  • Nicolas Batum - $3.3M player option due 6/29/22: Batum has played so well for the Clippers that he’ll probably opt out. Then you can expect Batum to re-sign on a deal that adds more years for a bit more money.
  • Ivica Zubac - $7.5M team option due 6/29/22: Zubac will have his option picked up. He’s become a very underrated starting center. LA won’t risk losing him by declining their option.

Los Angeles Lakers

  • Wenyen Gabriel - $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: The Lakers will pick up their option for Gabriel. His deal will then become non-guaranteed and he’ll have to work to make the team out of training camp.
  • Stanley Johnson - $2.4M team option due 6/29/22: Johnson was solid enough for the Lakers that they should pick up this option. At worst, he’ll be solid end-of-bench depth at the forward spots for a team that dealt with a lot of injuries at those positions.
  • Kendrick Nunn - $5.3M player option due 6/22/22: Nunn has already said he’ll pick up his option, following a lost season due to injury.
  • Russell Westbrook - $47.1M player option due 6/29/22: Westbrook is a unique player and personality, so we won’t call it 100% that he’ll opt in for next year. But he’s not so unique that we’ll go below 99.9% that Westbrook opts in. From there, it’s up to the Lakers to trade him or try and figure out how to make him fit.

Memphis Grizzlies

  • No option decisions pending

Miami Heat

  • P.J. Tucker - $7.4M player option due 6/29/22: Tucker will opt in. He’s happy with the Heat and he’s a key rotation player for them. And he’s not passing up that money, at his age, when he’s on a title contender.

Milwaukee Bucks

  • Thanasis Antetokounmpo - $1.9M player option due 6/21/22: His brother is in Milwaukee. He’s on a title contender. And he’s one of the most popular teammates in the league. Thanasis isn’t going anywhere.
  • Pat Connaughton - $5.7M player option due 6/22/22: Connaughton could be the best wing shooter on the market if he opts out. That’s worth a nice new deal. This could turn into another P.J. Tucker situation for the Bucks if they aren’t careful. Connaughton will opt out, but Milwaukee can’t play games with their offer for him as a free agent.
  • Bobby Portis- $4.7M player option due 6/29/22: Portis’ deal was always set up for him to opt out and then re-sign for more years and money using his Early Bird rights. It doesn’t seem as if anything has changed with that plan for Portis or the Bucks.

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Jaylen Nowell - $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: Nowell has been solid as a bench guard for the Wolves, but probably not so much so that they need to decline a team-friendly option year to make him a restricted free agent. Expect this option to get picked up.
  • Naz Reid - $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: Reid is in the same boat as Nowell. We’ll get a real sense for Tim Connelly’s approach to the Wolves roster with how he handles Reid. For now, expect this option to get picked up and Reid will do at least one more year behind Karl-Anthony Towns.

New Orleans Pelicans

  • No option decisions pending

New York Knicks

  • No option decisions pending

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • Lu Dort- $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: Dort has been a success story for the Thunder. He came in and outplayed a Two-Way contract and is how a key member of the rotation. For that reason, OKC will decline their team option and will make Dort a restricted free agent this summer. From there, the Thunder will work out a long-term deal with their wing-stopper.
  • Mike Muscala - $3.5M team option due 6/29/22: Muscala will probably be back, likely after having his option picked up. The only way this will go the other way is if Muscala isn’t healthy enough to play. Then the Thunder will probably move on. If he can play, he’ll be back in OKC.
  • Isaiah Roby - $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: Unlike Dort, Roby hasn’t popped quite enough that the Thunder need to make him a restricted free agent. They’ll likely pick up this option and let him play out the year before hitting unrestricted free agency in 2023.

Orlando Magic

  • No option decisions pending

Philadelphia 76ers

  • James Harden - $47.4M player option due 6/29/22: Whatever Harden does will be with the full support and guidance of Daryl Morey. If he opts out, it’s because he and the Sixers have a new deal ready to go. If Harden opts in, then maybe both sides have agreed to play things out. The guess here is that Harden opts out and both sides reach middle ground on a non-max extension, both in terms of years and dollars.
  • Shake Milton - $1.9M team option due 6/29/22: There’s no reason for Philadelphia to decline this option. Milton’s going to be an unrestricted free agent if they do. He’s too productive to risk losing, especially over a deal that’s around the veteran minimum. Milton will be back.

Phoenix Suns

  • No option decisions pending

Portland Trail Blazers

  • No option decisions pending

Sacramento Kings

  • Trey Lyles - $2.6M team option due 6/28/22: The Kings should pick up this option. Lyles is better than most realize and this is an under-valued contract. But it’s the Kings, so who knows what will happen? They’ve mostly made good decisions on contracts recently, so expect Lyles to be back in Sacramento.

San Antonio Spurs

  • No option decisions pending

Toronto Raptors

  • Svi Mykhailiuk - $1.9M player option due 6/29/22: Mykhailiuk is a one-trick pony and his one trick isn’t good enough to offset his deficiencies. He’d probably get another minimum deal somewhere else, but why even risk it? Mykhailiuk will be back in Toronto.

Utah Jazz

  • No option decisions pending

Washington Wizards

  • Bradley Beal - $36.4M player option due 6/29/22: Beal is going to opt out and then re-sign with the Wizards. Probably on a five-year max deal. It might not be a good contract by the end, but that’s something to worry about years from now.

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