Nets pick up options on all five 2025 first-rounders, Blazers keep Clingan and Yang, Clippers keep Konan Niederhauser

Three more teams settled their rookie-scale option decisions on Thursday, and all three said yes. The Brooklyn Nets picked up the 2027-28 options on all five of their 2025 first-round picks, the Portland Trail Blazers exercised options on centers Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen, and the LA Clippers kept Yanic Konan Niederhauser for a third season. That is eight more salaries guaranteed for 2027-28 ahead of the league-wide deadline on Monday, Nov. 2.

Nets: five options, about $21.7 million

Brooklyn confirmed it had exercised the third-year options on Egor Dëmin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, the five players it drafted between No. 8 and No. 27 in 2025.

Per the Brooklyn Nets:

OFFICIAL: The Brooklyn Nets have exercised the third-year team options on Egor Dëmin, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, Nolan Traore and Danny Wolf.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 29, 2026

Their 2027-28 salaries are now guaranteed:

• Egor Dëmin: $7,578,240
• Nolan Traore: $4,193,040
• Drake Powell: $3,709,320
• Ben Saraf: $3,172,920
• Danny Wolf: $3,081,840

That adds up to $21,735,360. None of the five made an All-Rookie team last season, but Brooklyn has plenty of cap room and little reason to cut any of them loose this early. Dëmin, a starter, has averaged 10.1 points and 3.3 assists in his career, though he is currently out with a right leg bone bruise and will be reevaluated in a week. Traore has been a part-time starter, while Powell, Saraf and Wolf have mostly come off the bench.

The bigger call comes a year from now. The Nets must decide on the fourth-year options for 2028-29 by Nov. 1, 2027, and those range from about $9.6 million for Dëmin to about $5.6 million for Wolf.

Trail Blazers: Clingan heads toward an extension

Trail Blazers exercise team options on contracts of Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansenhttps://t.co/8Kjra6VeLj

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 29, 2026

Portland’s move on Clingan was the easy one. The 7-foot-2 center has started since February 2025 and averaged 12.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 77 games last season. His fourth-year salary of about $9.55 million for 2027-28 is now guaranteed, up from about $7.52 million this season. He becomes eligible for a rookie-scale extension next July and would be a restricted free agent in 2028 if the sides do not agree on one.

Yang is a longer-term project. The 16th pick in 2025, he averaged 2.2 points in 7.0 minutes over 43 games as a rookie and has seen only garbage time this fall. His third-year salary of about $4.86 million is now locked in, and Portland faces a $7.46 million option on him for 2028-29 next fall. The Blazers fell to 3-1 on Thursday with a 124-103 home loss to Memphis.

Clippers: a vote of confidence for an injured center

The Clippers are picking up Konan Niederhauser’s third-year option, worth just over $3 million, Jake Fischer and Law Murray reported. The 30th pick in 2025 out of Penn State has not played this season. He had surgery in March for a Lisfranc injury in his right foot and a follow-up procedure in July, and he is one of five Clippers who have yet to debut, a list that led the team to sign Blake Wesley to a 10-day hardship contract this week.

Before the injury, the 6-foot-11 center had worked his way into the rotation after the Clippers traded Ivica Zubac to Indiana. Over his last nine healthy games he averaged 7.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 16.6 minutes. Keeping him at that price is a small bet that he gets back to that level.

The one no so far, and who is left

The only team to turn down an option so far this week is New York, which is declining Pacôme Dadiet’s $5.37 million fourth-year option. Dadiet will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and the Knicks could only re-sign him at a starting salary no higher than that figure.

Thursday’s moves follow Dallas picking up Zaccharie Risacher’s $17.4 million option on Wednesday. Several decisions are still open before Monday, including Houston’s $14.04 million option on Reed Sheppard, who is out for months after meniscus surgery but is widely expected to be kept, and Oklahoma City’s calls on Nikola Topić and Thomas Sorber, which carry luxury-tax costs.