Former No. 9 pick heading for free agency after Trail Blazers decline team option

Portland Trail Blazers forward Kevin Knox, Oklahoma City Thunder wing Lindy Waters and Minnesota Timberwolves big man Nathan Knight have all had their team options for the 2023-24 season declined by their respective clubs, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link) reported the three option decisions.

The deadline to exercise a player or team option for 2023-24 was Thursday at 4:00 pm CST, so the fact that there had been no word on these three options was a strong indication that they weren’t picked up. They were the last three we were waiting for confirmation on — the rest of this year’s team and player option decisions had already been made.

Knox’s team option with the Trail Blazers would have been worth $3M. The former No. 9 overall pick finished the 2022-23 season in Portland after being traded from the Detroit Pistons at February’s deadline. In 63 total appearances with the Pistons and Blazers, he averaged 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per night.

Knox will become an unrestricted free agent after having his option turned down. Waters and Knight – who would’ve earned $1.93M apiece if their options had been exercised – were eligible for qualifying offers to make them restricted free agents, but there’s no indication that either player received one. 

Waters averaged 5.2 PPG on .393/.358/.800 shooting in 41 games (13.0 MPG) for the Thunder this past season, while Knight registered 3.7 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 38 contests (7.7 MPG) for the Timberwolves.