By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The Houston Rockets are going to exercise the team option on Kostas Papanikolaou contract, however until the 5h of October this doesn’t guarantee anything to the Greek forward.
As Eurohoops can confirm that Houston is going to use the extension option for Papanikolaou, but his future remains a questionmark. His 4,6 m. $ contract for the 2015-16 season becames quaranteed after the 5th of October. Until then, the team can waive him without paying him anything.
It’s obvious that Houston wants to keep its options open, while the player has to wait the decisions of the team. He want to stay in the NBA, he said so himself, but that depends on what the Rockets will do in the market. Papanikolaou can be cut in order to open up salary cap space, or, the most probable scenario, can be used as an asset to a possible trade. The best case for him, of course, will be the remain in Houston and return to the role he had at the start of the 2014-15 season.