The Suns won’t exercise the 2022-23 option on 2020 lottery pick Jalen Smith, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
As a result of the move, Smith will become an unrestricted free agent during the summer of 2022, two years before his rookie contract normally would have expired and two years after being drafted 10th overall. Phoenix – or whichever team finishes the season with Smith on its roster – won’t be able to offer him a starting salary that exceeds $4,670,160, the amount of his declined option.
Smith, 21, appeared in just 27 games as a rookie last season, averaging 2.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 5.8 minutes per contest. He showed some promise in recent months in Summer League (16.3 PPG, 12.5 RPG) and during the preseason (9.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG).
It’s rare for teams to decline fourth- and especially third-year options on rookie scale contracts, since it’s still so early in the player’s career and the price is typically pretty reasonable. As our tracker shows, Smith is the first player still on a rookie contract whose third-year option is being turned down this year. Jarrett Culver's fourth-year option is reportedly being declined by Memphis.
Passing on Smith’s ’22-23 option should allow the Suns, which project to be a taxpayer, to replace him with a minimum-salary player next season.
Reports during the offseason indicated that Smith was a potential trade chip. It’s safe to assume Phoenix will continue shopping him leading up to this year’s trade deadline, though the fact that the team turned down his option signals that he doesn’t have a ton of value.
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