Chicago Bulls Derrick Jones Jr. is going to test the waters of the NBA free agency after deciding not to pick up his player option for the 2023-24 season worth $3.3 million, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

“Chicago Bulls forward Derrick Jones Jr. is declining his $3.3 million player option for the 2023-24 season and entering unrestricted free agency, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.”

This is a mildly shocking change of heart from Derrick Jones Jr, especially since he recently said that he is committed to staying in Windy City to play for head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls.

“Like I told Coach (Billy Donovan) and everybody else, I’m locked in for two years. I didn’t sign for two years for no reason,” Jones said to K.C. Jones of NBC Sports Chicago back in April. “So I’m here for two years,” Jones Jr. said in an interview with NBC Sports Chicago. “I just gotta sit down with my agent and talk to him, figure things out. But I don’t see why not. I got no other plans, yet.”

Jones inked a two-year deal worth $6.56 million with the Bulls back in 2022. A year before that, he was traded to Chicago by the Portland Trail Blazers as part of a three-team transaction that also involved the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In 64 games played for the Bulls in the 2022-23 NBA season, Derrick Jones Jr, who went undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft after a college career with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, averaged just 5.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field and 33.8 percent from deep.