Austin Rivers Reportedly Will Opt out of Rockets Contract, Enter Free Agency

After spending the past two seasons with the Houston Rockets, Austin Rivers is reportedly going to test the free-agent market.

Per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, Rivers will decline his option for the 2020-21 season to become an unrestricted free agent. 

The move has been expected, with Rivers himself acknowledging last week that he wanted to explore all of his options. 

"I love Houston and I love the Rockets," he told Mark Berman of Fox 26. "It’s not like I don’t want to play there. But at the end of the day, it's simple. There are other situations out there and you owe it to yourself to go see if you can complement those situations, help other teams win games and I know I can do that."

The Rockets have undergone significant changes this offseason, including hiring Rafael Stone as general manager and Stephen Silas as head coach. 

Rivers signed a two-year contract for the veteran minimum with Houston in July 2019. He would have made $2.37 million in 2020-21 if he had opted into the deal. 

In 115 games (17 starts) with the Rockets, Rivers averaged 8.7 points and 2.3 rebounds with a 41.8 field-goal percentage. The 28-year-old is a 34.8 percent shooter from three-point range in his eight-year NBA career.