The Pistons have exercised their 2021/22 team option on Sekou Doumbouya‘s rookie contract, league sources tell Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). The move guarantees the forward’s $3.6MM salary for the ’21/22 season.
Doumbouya, who will turn 20 on Wednesday, was the youngest player in the NBA last season after being selected 15th overall in the 2019 draft. He averaged 6.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG on .390/.286/.674 shooting in 38 games (19.8 MPG) as a rookie.
While Doumbouya’s contributions in 2019/20 were modest, he has flashed some promise during the preseason this month. Most notably, he racked up 23 points, five rebounds, and a pair of blocked shots in just 17 minutes of action against New York last Sunday.
As our tracker shows, Doumbouya’s rookie scale option was the only one left for the Pistons to pick up after they waived Zhaire Smith and Dzanan Musa. The deadline for teams to exercise those options is December 29.
Detroit’s next decision on Doumbouya will come a year from now, when the club will have to either exercise or decline his team option for 2022/23. Assuming that option is picked up, the Pistons forward will become eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2022 offseason.