10 most underrated NBA free agents of 2016

Jared Dudley (UFA)

Jared Dudley won’t be the sexiest free-agent splash on the market, but whichever team winds up adding him won’t regret it.

“Dudley has never cracked 13 points per game in his nine-year NBA career, but he has had positive plus-minus impact nearly every year,” ESPN.com’s Jeremias Engelmann and Steve Ilardi wrote. “He is also the consummate teammate and a positive off-court influence—factors much more difficult to quantify.”

Dudley is the epitome of a glue guy—a player who won’t regularly light up the stat sheet but will space the floor, box out well and avoid major defensive breakdowns. He knocked down 42.0 percent of his three-point attempts this past season with the Washington Wizards, the second-highest mark of his career, and racked up a career-best 0.6 defensive box plus-minus.

At 6’7″, Dudley is capable of playing either forward position, particularly as the league places a premium on small-ball lineups with stretch-4s. You wouldn’t want him banging around the post with guys like Derrick Favors or DeMarcus Cousins, but he can hold his own against smaller power forwards such as Paul Millsap and Draymond Green.

Teams in need of a veteran to impart his high basketball IQ upon their younger players—aka, just about every franchise across the Association—should keep Dudley in mind as free agency gets underway. He’s not likely to rake in the huge-money deal that Harrison Barnes is sure to receive, but he could provide a similar value for a third of the price.

Next: The next Kent Bazemore?