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Quick question regarding Josh Howard this offseason. He currently has a team option for next season of 11.8 million. Is Washington allowed to trade his contract say, at the draft, and have the receiving team choose to not pick up the option? Similar to Dampier's contract, in a way? I believe the answer is no, that options need to be picked up before a trade, but was unsure. Anyone know how his is? Thanks.

No

cucad8 wrote:Quick question regarding Josh Howard this offseason. He currently has a team option for next season of 11.8 million. Is Washington allowed to trade his contract say, at the draft, and have the receiving team choose to not pick up the option? Similar to Dampier's contract, in a way? I believe the answer is no, that options need to be picked up before a trade, but was unsure. Anyone know how his is? Thanks.

You are correct. (It isn't similar to Dampier's contract, but I suspect that was just shorthand, right?)

In the offseason, you can't trade any player whose contract expires, or might expire, that summer. In the case of player options or ETOs, the player must elect to stay under his current contract or he cannot be traded. In the case of a team option, the team must pick up the option for that player before they can trade him.

(In Dampier's case, he is already under contract for next year, so this provision does not apply. But the last year of his contract is fully unguaranteed, so he can be traded and then cut with no impact on the team's cap.)

What was the deal when Portland had Van Exel's contract which was going to imminently expire and played around with trading that and the 3rd pick for Paul Pierce?

The Blazers held the third overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. They apparently felt Martell Webster was their man, but they were convinced that no team among the top five would select him. So they looked to trade down.

The Celtics were rumored to have offered Paul Pierce for Van Exel and the third pick. Portland decided against that trade, and dealt the third overall pick to Utah for the sixth and twenty-seventh picks. The Jazz took Deron Williams third. The Hornets took Chris Paul fourth. The Bobcats took Raymond Felton fifth. And the Blazers got their man at sixth.

Van Exel's case was similar to that of Dampier’s, in that the final season of his contract was non-guaranteed. The Blazers waived him in August 2005. He then signed with the Spurs.