The Mavericks have exercised the third-year option for Luka Doncic and the fourth-year option for Justin Jackson, according to Tim Cato of The Athletic (Twitter link). Both rookie scale team options apply to the 2020/21 season.
Doncic, who will have a cap hit of $8,049,360 in ’20/21, is the NBA’s reigning Rookie of the Year winner and projects to be a cornerstone in Dallas for many years to come. The Mavs will have to exercise his 2021/22 option next year, and he’ll become eligible for his first rookie scale extension during the 2021 offseason.
As for Jackson, the 24-year-old forward had an impressive stretch for the Mavs to finish the 2018/19 season after coming over from Sacramento in the Harrison Barnes deal. In 29 games (18.3 MPG) for Dallas, he averaged 8.2 PPG on .484/.372/.724 shooting. His fourth-year option in ’20/21 will have a cap charge of $5,029,650.
Assuming Tim Hardaway Jr. picks up his $19MM player option for 2020/21 next spring, the Mavs project to have about $108MM+ in guaranteed money on their books, which wouldn’t leave any meaningful cap room. Barring cost-cutting moves, Dallas’ next opportunity to make a splash in free agency will likely come in 2021.
While the Mavs have made decisions on their 2020/21 rookie scale team options well in advance of the October 31 deadline, there are still plenty of option decisions to come. Our tracker can be found right here.