The Sixers Have Exercised Fourth-Year Option for Evan Turner

Here is some news on an innocent Thursday in late October. The Sixers did what we were expecting them to do in picking up next year's option for Evan Turner. He's still on his rookie contract, which means he had a team option for the 2013-14 season for $6.7M that Sixers brass needed to decide by Opening Night if they wanted to exercise it. And they have.

Not only is this expected and the correct move, it's necessary. Evan Turner's success this season would dramatically lift the chances of the Sixers becoming a legitimate force in the Eastern Conference. Failure would not condemn them, but in a perfect world, he performs at a high level and you have Jason Richardson, Dorell Wright, and Nick Young there as good-shooting contingency plans. Evan's game is so predicated upon playing with confidence that had the Sixers not picked up his option, there would have been serious concern that they didn't believe in him.

$6.7 million is a big pill to swallow if he continues to play inefficient offense, but it was really the only choice they had. Hopefully Evan repays them by playing basketball well. That seems fair. The Sixers now officially have $36M tied up into next season without considering the new contracts of Jrue Holiday and kneeless Andrew Bynum.

One less thing to worry about before Opening Night!