Mog Knueppel and Liam McNeely third year options were used, Hornets announced in a press release.
How our tracker shows, Knuppel will now earn about $11 million in 2027/28, his third season in the league, while McNealy will earn about $3 million.
After finishing second in the 2026/27 Rookie of the Year voting, Knueppel was a poor choice for him. McNeely’s $3 million salary for next season is pretty close to his projected minimum ($2.61M), so it made sense to lock him up at this relatively modest cap in hopes that he continues to improve after playing a modest role thus far in his young career.
Knueppel was selected fourth overall in the 2025 draft, while McNeely went 25th overall. Charlotte will have until Nov. 1, 2027, to decide if it wants to exercise its fourth-year options on the two wings.
Although Knuppel and McNeely are now guaranteed salaries for next season, the Hornets’ press release made no mention of Tijan Salaun — the team has until Monday to decide whether to pick up his $10.4 million fourth-year option.
The lack of mention of Salavn could be a sign that the team will forego the option of the French forward, but this is yet to be confirmed. The 21-year-old was selected sixth overall in the 2024 draft, becoming the first significant selection made by the head of basketball operations Jeff Peterson.
A 6ft 10in power forward, Salaun struggled as a rookie in 2024/25 but showed improvement in a smaller role in 25/26. He is averaging 5.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game in six games this season.
