While decisions on player and team options for veteran NBA contracts are typically due in June, the deadline to exercise third- and fourth-year team options for players on rookie scale contracts arrives each fall. This year’s deadline for teams to pick up rookie scale options is November 2.
All the players whose options will be exercised or declined by Nov. 2 are already under contract for the 2026/27 season. Their teams will have to make a decision on whether they want to lock in those players’ contracts beyond the coming season, picking up or turning down team options for the 2027/28 campaign.
In many cases, these decisions aren’t difficult ones. Rookie scale salaries are affordable enough that it usually makes sense to exercise these team options, even if a player isn’t a key cog on the roster. And for those players who do have a significant role on a team’s roster, the decision is even easier — it’s not as if the Sixers will consider turning down their option on VJ Edgecombe, for instance.
[RELATED: Decisions On 2027/28 Rookie Scale Team Options]
While most players will have their options exercised by their respective teams, there are several clubs every year who decide not to pick up those options for various reasons. That will be the case again ahead of this year’s Nov. 2 deadline, and we’re taking a closer look today at the players who could be most at risk, skipping the no-brainer calls like the Sixers with Edgecombe.
Let’s dive in…
