Zach LaVine will opt in to his $49 million player option for the 2026-27 season with the Sacramento Kings, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday. The move locks him into the final year of a five-year, $215 million deal after a injury-tangled first full season
Zach LaVine’s decision arrives with the kind of clarity that changes the math for the Sacramento Kings. The two-time All-Star wing is set to opt in to his $49 million player option for the 2026-27 season, a step reported Monday by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
For Sacramento. it means LaVine’s future in the building is no longer a question mark for next season—it’s a commitment. at least through the final stretch of his current contract. LaVine. 31. would be set to play the final year of a five-year. $215 million deal in Sacramento unless the Kings can find a trade partner.
The option lands after a first full season in Sacramento that never quite found its footing because of injuries. Over 39 games, LaVine averaged 19.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists, shooting 47.9 per cent from the field and 39 per cent from three.
He missed time sporadically through the first half of the season with separate thumb and back injuries. Then, in February, he was ruled out of the remainder of the year after undergoing surgery to repair a tendon in his right pinky.
The opt-in also brings the focus back to how LaVine arrived in Sacramento. The Kings acquired him at the 2025 trade deadline from the Chicago Bulls as part of a three-team trade that sent De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
LaVine’s contract decision now sets a clear deadline for the Kings’ planning: if they don’t trade him. they’ll get the final year of that five-year. $215 million deal. If they do. LaVine’s opt-in becomes part of a timing question—how long they can keep their window open around a player whose season was shaped by multiple injury setbacks.
Across a 12-year NBA career split between the Minnesota Timberwolves, Bulls and Kings, the former 13th-overall pick has averaged 20.7 points, four rebounds and 3.9 assists.
Zach LaVine Sacramento Kings player option 2026-27 season $49 million $215 million deal De'Aaron Fox Chicago Bulls injuries right pinky tendon surgery
So he opted in but he still keeps getting hurt? Kings are wild.
Wait is this the one who broke his pinky or was that someone else? $49m for 39 games seems kinda crazy but I guess NBA money is different.
If they can’t trade him then they’re stuck paying him right, like they can just choose not to? Also 39 games only… I don’t even know why he would opt in unless he knew he’d be healthy.
The ESPN headline makes it sound like a lock, but doesn’t injury history basically ruin the whole thing? And the De’Aaron Fox to Spurs part confused me—was Fox even involved after the trade deadline or did I miss that. Sounds like the Kings are just hoping for the best next year.