Portland Trail Blazers forward Rodney Hood is declining his $6M player option and becoming a free agent, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Hood, 28, tore his left Achilles tendon in December 2019. With nearly a year of recovery time, Hood can play right away with a new team.
The injury cut short a promising season in which Hood was averaging 11 points per game and shooting nearly 50% from 3 in 21 games for the Blazers.
A trade deadline acquisition two seasons ago, Hood averaged 9.9 points and shot 35.5% from 3 during Portland’s run to the Western Conference finals. He re-signed with the team on a 2-year, $16 million deal with a player option.
The Blazers already have Hood’s replacement waiting in the wings, as they are finalizing a trade with the Houston Rockets to acquire forward Robert Covington, sources told Wojnarowski on Monday night.
Hood went 23rd overall to the Utah Jazz in the 2014 NBA draft. He holds a career average of 12.7 points while shooting 42.2% from the field (including 36.7% from 3) across five NBA seasons.
