On the latest edition of the HoopsHype show, hosts Cyro Asseo and Sam Yip break down the seven players from the 2024 draft class who had their fourth-year options declined. They discuss why teams pass on options, what the move signals to the rest of the league, where each of the seven stands, what history says about players in the same spot and who has the best shot at a long NBA career.
You can watch the full episode or check out snippets of the conversation in the transcribed version below the YouTube video.
Seven options, $46.7 million, one deadline
Timestamp: 00:00 – 01:11
Cyro Asseo: “Seven players from the 2024 draft class just had their fourth-year options declined. Together, those options were worth about $46.7 million. The deadline was Monday, Nov. 2, and it normally falls on Oct.
31, but that day landed on a weekend, so the NBA moved it to a Monday. For anyone new, first-round rookie scale contracts include team options for the third and fourth seasons. If the team declines, the player doesn’t leave right away. He stays for the rest of this season and becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027, barring any trades.”
Sam Yip: “So this is not a release. It’s a warning, and it puts a real deadline on proving yourself.”
Why teams pass
Timestamp: 01:16 – 01:53
CA: “Teams pass on options for a few reasons. The first is money. A few million dollars can mean the difference between keeping a player and fitting in a veteran on the market.”
SY: “The second is roster spot. Young teams have a lot of young players, and somebody has to go.”
CA: “The third is evaluation. The team looks at the player’s development, his minutes, his role, and concludes that continuing this contract isn’t worth it.”
SY: “Here’s why it’s a bad sign, even when it isn’t the end. A declined option tells every other front office that your own team doesn’t see the future they hoped for in you. Agents notice that.”
Pacome Dadiet’s decision
Timestamp: 01:53 – 02:59
CA: “Dadiet has played 48 career games. He’s on the defending champs, the New York Knicks, and he’s averaged 1.6 points, one rebound and under an assist a night while shooting 25.5 percent from three.”
SY: “That’s a small sample size, and it’s the reason this decision reads so loudly. The question is whether New York saw a role it can’t replace or a player it can’t find cheaper.”
CA: “I think they always drafted him as a potential trade chip with untapped potential. It was never that they thought he was going to be a part of the future.”
Tidjane Salaun situation
Timestamp: 02:25 – 03:08
CA: “The Hornets declined his $10.4 million option, and he’s the biggest salary on this list. He’s only played 104 games, but he’s actually produced when given the opportunity and has developed.”
SY: “A sixth pick being declined at $10.4 million is a bigger statement than the others. The Hornets are telling the market a role has to become clear.”
CA: “He has to figure out if he can become the three-and-D big that his skill set is suited for. If not, he’ll probably have a good career overseas.”
Cody Williams needs to be more efficient
Timestamp: 03:08 – 03:52
CA: “Cody Williams, the No. 10 pick, was drafted by the Jazz and is now on the Timberwolves. His option was for $7.6 million. He’s played 122 games, with 818 points, 312 rebounds and 196 assists, and he’s shot 41.8 percent from the field. He’s the younger brother of Jalen Williams’ ... “
SY: “He really needs the ball to be productive, but the real issue is his efficiency with it.”
Nikola Topic's comeback and the luxury tax
Timestamp: 03:52 – 04:53
CA: “Nikola Topic, the No. 12 pick, had his $7.5 million option declined by the Thunder. He’s come back from a knee injury, and he’s also in remission from testicular cancer. He missed his first season and most of his second, and now in his third year he’s played 10 games. That’s not enough to judge a player. He might have the most potential of anyone on this list. But for a team looking to win another championship in the prime of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s career, passing on that option is more about not having the room to pay the luxury tax anymore.”
Isaiah Collier, AJ Johnson and DaRon Holmes II
Timestamp: 04:53 – 06:36
CA: “Isaiah Collier, the No. 29 pick, had his $4.8 million option declined by the Jazz. He has the most production of this group and the most games played, 137, with just under 1,400 points, 400 rebounds and almost 1,000 assists.”
SY: “He’s a pass-first guard with assist volume that you could probably find a home for elsewhere. He’s very good at getting to the rim, but he has real issues shooting. I’m personally a little surprised they didn’t pick up his option.”
SY: “AJ Johnson is in his third NBA season on his fourth team after being drafted by Milwaukee. If you’re a young player and you get moved multiple times in your first couple of years, that’s usually not a good sign.”
CA: “DaRon Holmes II had his $5.5 million option declined by the Nuggets. It’s been unfortunate. He tore his Achilles in his first or second Summer League game. I interviewed him last year at the G League Showcase. He was supposed to be the backup big man the Nuggets have been looking for during the entire Nikola Jokic era.”
What history says about declined options
Timestamp: 06:36 – 08:41
CA: “Al-Farouq Aminu had his fourth-year option declined by the Hornets on Oct. 31, 2012. He played 71 games for them in 2012-13, re-signed on a one-year deal and stayed two full seasons. He ended up playing 711 games, and he had a career built on defensive versatility.”
CA: “Austin Rivers, the No. 10 pick in 2012, ended up re-signing, played under his father, got a pretty decent extension and had an 11-year career.”
CA: “A modern example is Jalen Smith, the No. 10 pick in 2020. The Suns famously declined his third-year option in his second season. He started to show how good he could be in the right system, as a floor-spacing, shot-blocking big man.”
CA: “Then there’s Kevon Looney, drafted 30th overall in 2015. He had his fourth-year option declined, came back, re-signed and won three championships. He’s the one I like the most. He built a career on the unglamorous work: rebounding, screening, hustling and making the team better without the ball.”
CA: “I think that shows the pattern. The guys who established a clear role, a skill that translated and a team that needed it were able to keep their careers going. The uncomfortable part is that roughly half the players whose options were declined in NBA history never played another game after their rookie deals ended.”
Who has the best shot?
Timestamp: 08:41 – 10:26
SY: “I think Collier is probably the best bet. He’s done the most in the league already in terms of production. He can’t shoot, and that’s his big thing, but I’d put my money on him.”
CA: “I agree. We know what he needs to do, which really is just shoot the ball. And hear me out, there’s a world where Salaun figures it out. What I’ve learned is that people who are nearly seven feet tall and move as well as he does have a very quick learning curve in the right situation.”
CA: “Dadiet, Holmes and Topic have a different problem. They haven’t been able to play, either because of injury or because their team is so good. That means teams have to bet on what they might do, and that bet gets harder to make every season. Cody Williams has the most to prove. He took a jump in his second season and looked more like an actual NBA player, but the bar is higher now, and he has to show a role the team values and finds hard to replace.”
CA: “A declined option is a bad precedent. Nobody should pretend it isn’t a signal. But Aminu, Jalen Smith and Looney all show that it’s not the same as a career ender.”
SY: “For these seven, the decision reflects what one team needed at one moment. It isn’t the final judgment on the player.”
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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Seven NBA players had their options declined. Here’s what happens next
