The mutual option puts a player option and a team option on the same season. In the version used today in the NBA, either side can validate the option year on its own; for the contract to end, the player and the franchise both have to agree not to validate it.
“Both sides will be able to discuss a new contract next summer, but each of them can activate the option, not opt out of it,” wrote Shams Charania, as reported by Basket USA. The MLB mutual option works the other way round: both parties generally have to say yes for the deal to continue.
Isaiah Hartenstein signed with the Thunder for three years and 75 million dollars, with the clause on the final season. “I really wanted to stay with this team longer and keep playing for a title contender,” he said. Pelle Larsson was extended by the Heat for four years and up to 60 million, mutual option on 2030/31. Keon Ellis signed for two years and 18 million fully guaranteed in Brooklyn, clause on the second year. Moe Wagner accepted the same set-up.
The player protects his salary if his value drops, the franchise keeps control if it goes through the roof, and the clause books a date to renegotiate.
A clause nobody had seen since 2001 coming back, I call that a moment. The lights down, the two-second gap, [jingle], and then: mesdames et messieurs, dames en heren, the option year has been activated, by one side, on its own! The trouble is what comes next. For the contract to end, both of them have to stay quiet at the same time, and you can’t announce silence over a microphone. I tried it on Saturday at half-time, cut the music for two seconds to get the effect: the PA thought it was a fault and came back on by itself. Twenty-five years of waiting, and the moment is an office in July. Just saying.
It’s true, we checked: Basket USA.
