Report: Lakers to decline team option on Jalen Hood-Schifino
After a disappointing rookie season and with few flashes early in his sophomore campaign, the Lakers will reportedly decline Jalen Hood-Schifino’s third-year team option.
After a disappointing year-plus with the Lakers, Jalen Hood-Schifino looks set to potentially be wrapping up his career in purple and gold.
With Thursday serving as the deadline for the Lakers to decide on whether to exercise the third-year option on Jalen Hood-Schifino’s contract, his time in Los Angeles will reportedly be coming to an end.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN the Lakers will be declining that option, making Hood-Schifino an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The Los Angeles Lakers are declining guard Jalen Hood-Schifino’s third-year team option worth $4 million for 2025-26, sources tell ESPN. This makes the 21-year-old, 6-foot-5 guard an unrestricted free agent in offseason and creates roster flexibility for Lakers. pic.twitter.com/lwKGwVTg6w
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 31, 2024
It’s been a difficult start to his NBA career for Hood-Schifino. He played in just 21 games as a rookie, averaging 1.6 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists.
His season was plagued with injuries, first suffering a knee injury in the preseason that delayed the start of his rookie year before a back injury sidelined him for the back half of the season. Ultimately, he had to undergo lumbar microdiscectomy back surgery in March, ending his campaign early.
He did not play in Summer League games due to his rehab but JJ Redick spoke fondly about his summer workouts. Rui Hachimura described him as a standout player in training camp, but when preseason games began, he was underwhelming, averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 19.8 minutes of play.
With effectively a full roster returning this season, Hood-Schifino was going to be on the outside looking in this season. Not seeing playing time in any of the team’s first five games, though, was a bad omen and put the writing on the wall for Thursday’s decision.
Now, Hood-Schifino will become a restricted free agent at season’s end. This is a risk for the Lakers. If he shines this year, he’ll walk away and they could’ve signed him at a bargain. On the other hand, if he continues to struggle to find his footing then it could be Hood-Schifino who is on the outside looking in at an NBA career.
This does open up some cap space for the Lakers, who are up against the line to the second apron as things stand. But it also means that the Lakers swung and missed pretty badly in the 2023 NBA Draft, too.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.