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Portland Trail Blazers wing Rodney Hood is declining the second-year option of his contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. With the move, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweeted the news.
Portland Trail Blazers F Rodney Hood is declining his $6M player option and becoming a free agent, sources tell ESPN. Hood’s had nearly a full year to recover from a torn Achilles injury and can play right away with a new team.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 17, 2020
Hood’s contract would have paid $6 million for the 2020-21 season. He is now allowed to negotiate across the league. The Blazers could still re-sign him using cap exceptions even though the signing would put them over the salary cap line.
The seventh-year veteran averaged 11.0 points on 50.6% shooting, 49.3% from the three-point arc in 21 games for the Blazers in 2019-20. His season was cut short by an Achilles tear, from which he’s been recovering since. He excelled during Portland’s run through the 2019 NBA Playoffs, averaging 9.9 points while playing stout defense over 16 games as the Trail Blazers advanced past the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, reaching the Western Conference Finals.
Hood turned 28 last month.