Nerlens Noel rejects player option for 2019-20 season with OKC Thunder
By Rylan Stiles
Thursday, June 27 confirmation came the OKC Thunder center Nerlens Noel will opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.
Nerlens Noel, who had a good year as the backup big man for the OKC Thunder in 2018-19, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason after declining his player option that would have only been worth 1.9 million dollars.
Noel and the OKC Thunder could still agree to terms during the course of the offseason, but the solid big man will still have plenty of teams around the league pursuing the 25-year-old man in the middle.
Thunder center Nerlens Noel will not pick up his $1.9M player option for 2019-20 season and will be a free agent, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Noel and Thunder will discuss potential reunion, but several other teams are expected to express interest.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2019
Nerlens Noel has had an interesting path to get to this point in this career. After a rocky at best stint in Philadelphia, and rejecting a 70 million dollar deal from the Dallas Mavericks before a hot dog controversy derailed his tenure in Dallas.
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He landed in Oklahoma City this past season and played in 77 games on a prove it deal with the hopes of this situation panning out, that he can reject his player’s option and gain a bigger deal on the open market.
Noel started in two games and averaged 13 minutes a game. His four points and four rebounds a game with his one block a game to boot were valuable numbers off the bench.
With OKC Thunder starting center’s tenure in Bricktown up in the air, the two sides being open to discussing a reunion is an important detail in this story.
The center market is littered with options from DeMarcus Cousins, to Robin Lopez, Willie Cauley-Stein, Ed Davis, Dewayne Dedmon, Al Horford, DeAndre Jordan, just to name a few options. This should lower the price tag on Noel, making it realistic that the OKC Thunder, who are strapped for cash, could re-sign him.
Next. How the OKC Thunder will be impacted by Al Horford's decision. dark
Depending on what Sam Presti wants to do with Steven Adams, Noel could return to Oklahoma City, this time as a starter. NBA Free Agency will take a lot of twists and turns, and TI will have you covered.