Hornets pick up Jalen McDaniels' 2022-23 option

The Hornets have exercised their team option on forward Jalen McDaniels for the 2022-23 season, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). The option is worth $1,930,681.

The decision doesn’t technically lock in that $1.93M salary for McDaniels, since his contract remains non-guaranteed even with the option picked up. But as long as the 24-year-old remains under contract through Aug. 1, he’ll receive his full guarantee.

A former second-round pick, McDaniels has emerged as a regular part of Charlotte’s rotation over the last two seasons. He has averaged 6.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG on .476/.357/.721 shooting in 102 games (17.6 MPG) during that time.

Assuming McDaniels plays out the ’22-23 season on his current deal, he’ll become eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.

While the Hornets have no other outstanding player or team option decisions looming, the club will have some decisions to make on players without fully guaranteed contracts. Like McDaniels, big man Nick Richards has a non-guaranteed salary ($1.78M) for next season, while only $5M of Kelly Oubre‘s $12.6M salary is guaranteed.