I'm sure Albion will be aware of Hemed's likely attractiveness to clubs next season (either as a sale, or on loan - I have seen a suggestion that QPR had to pay a 750k loan fee for Hemed for 2017-18).
If other clubs are prepared to buy him or pay for him to come on loan, then Albion "..could...
The fact that Albion haven't announced a contract extension for Hemed (as they did with the likes of Bong in May and Murray in November) tells us, I think, everything we need to know about this. You would think that the club (and the player) would both be happy to publicly proclaim this contract...