14-year veteran Eric Gordon's $21 million option for the 2023-24 NBA season will not be exercised by the Los Angeles Clippers, enabling him to become a free agent this summer, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Gordon signed a four-year, $76 million extension with the Houston Rockets in 2019, with the final year of the deal as a team option. The extension took effect during the 2020-21 NBA season.
The 6-foot-3 guard returned to the Clippers in February 2023 in a three-team trade with the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies.
The Clippers originally drafted Gordon as the seventh overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. He spent his first three seasons in Los Angeles before being traded to the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans in a spell marred by injuries and inconsistency.
He signed with the Houston Rockets as a free agent in 2016. Gordon achieved a breakout in Houston, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award and the Three-Point Shootout in 2017.
Gordon was an integral part of the Rockets team that had the best record in the NBA in the 2017-18 season, going 65-17 and making the Western Conference Finals that year.
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Eric Gordon's Release Saves Clippers $110 Million
By not guaranteeing Gordon's $21 million salary for the 2023-24 season, the Clippers are set to save $110 million in luxury tax, with their bill going down from $169 million to $59 million, as per ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks.
After cutting Gordon, the Clippers are still $18 million over the league-mandated $165 million tax threshold.
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