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 October 31, 2025.
All the players whose options will be exercised or declined by Oct. 31 are already under contract for the 2025/26 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 2026/27 campaign.
For players who signed their rookie scale contracts in 2023 and have already been in the NBA for two years, teams must decide on fourth-year options for 2026/27. For players who just signed their rookie deals last year and only have one season of NBA experience under their belts, teams will already be faced with a decision on third-year options for ’26/27.
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 Spurs will consider turning down their option on Stephon Castle, for instance.
Still, we’ll wait for a trusted reporter, the NBA, a player (or his agent), or a team itself to confirm that an option is indeed being exercised or declined, and we’ll track that news in this space.
Listed below are all the rookie scale decisions for 2026/27 team options that clubs must make by Oct. 31. This list will be updated through the deadline as teams’ decisions are reported and announced. The salary figures listed here reflect the cap hits for each team.
Here are the NBA’s rookie scale team option decisions for 2026/27 salaries:
Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Taylor Hendricks (fourth year, $7,805,900
Keyonte George (fourth year, $6,563,925)
Cody Williams (third year, $6,015,600)
Brice Sensabaugh (fourth year, $4,862,237)
Isaiah Collier (third year, $2,763,960)
Washington Wizards
Alex Sarr (third year, $12,370,680)
Bilal Coulibaly (fourth year, $9,240,012)
Cam Whitmore (fourth year, $5,458,310)
Bub Carrington (third year, $4,900,560)
AJ Johnson (third year, $3,237,120)
Kyshawn George (third year, $3,108,000)
Dillon Jones (third year, $2,884,440)