The Nets have exercised their fourth-year option on center Jarrett Allen and their third-year option on swingman Dzanan Musa, the team announced today in a press release. Allen and Musa already had guaranteed salaries for the 2019/20 season, but today’s moves lock them in for 2020/21 as well.
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Allen, the 22nd overall pick in the 2017 draft, emerged as the Nets’ starting center last season, averaging 10.9 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 1.5 BPG in 80 games (26.2 MPG). The 21-year-old will face competition this season after Brooklyn signed veteran big man DeAndre Jordan to a lucrative four-year deal in July. However, the Nets still view Allen as a building block for their future.
Allen’s option for 2020/21 will only add $3,909,902 to the Nets’ team salary. By picking up that option, Brooklyn puts the big man on track to become extension-eligible during the 2020 offseason. If he doesn’t sign a new deal at that point, he’d become eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2021.
As for Musa, the 20-year-old wing only played nine NBA games during his rookie season in 2018/19, spending much of the year with the Long Island Nets in the G League. He recorded 19.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 3.6 APG on .439/.357/.792 shooting in 36 games (31.6 MPG) for Brooklyn’s NBAGL affiliate.
Musa’s third-year option comes in at $2,002,800. Now that it’s exercised, the Nets’ next decision on Musa will be his fourth-year option for 2021/22. The team will have until October 31, 2020 to pick up or decline that option, worth $3,615,054.
Brooklyn was already projected to be an over-the-cap team for the 2020/21 season, but guaranteeing Allen’s and Musa’s salaries push the club’s commitments further above that threshold. The Nets now have over $120MM in guaranteed salaries on their books for next season. That total doesn’t include Garrett Temple‘s $5MM team option or cap holds for free-agents-to-be like Joe Harris and Taurean Prince.