Jared McCain's third-year team option has been exercised by the Sixers, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. McCain will now earn a guaranteed salary of $4,422,600 in the 2026-27 season.
This was the no-brainer of all no-brainers for the Sixers; third-year options are rarely declined by teams even when players fail to show promise as rookies. McCain did the opposite: the 21-year-old guard played 23 games in his first NBA season before suffering a torn meniscus, but they were filled with flashes of future stardom.
After his rookie season ended prematurely, McCain's sophomore campaign will begin late, as McCain is now recovering from a torn UCL in his right thumb suffered at the end of last month. He has not yet played in the Sixers’ first four contests, and has been expected to miss at least the first handful of games to begin 2025-26.
Around this time next year, the Sixers will almost certainly exercise the fourth-year option in McCain's deal, which would lock him in with a guaranteed salary of just under $6.8 million in the 2027-28 season. In the summer of 2027 the Sixers and McCain will be able to discuss a rookie extension which would kick in during the 2028-29 season; if no agreement is reached he would become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2028.
MORE: Is McCain the next face of this franchise?
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