Many excellent NBA players will be hitting free agency, restricted or unrestricted, this summer. Here are the 20 best players that could be available.
While 2017 NBA free agency will not be as crazy as it was last summer with that massive spike in the salary cap, NBA free agency is always a good time because star players might switch teams.
Usually when a player hits unrestricted free agency, he is in his mid-to-late 20s and could be looking for his next big opportunity. For some, it’s about getting set financially for life. As for those that have already made bank, maybe going to a situation where it is theoretically easier to win a ring would be cool.
Whether it is restricted or unrestricted free agency, player option or team option, here are the 20 best players that could be available this summer. This is based on talent, replicability and just how available a guy is likely to be.
By opting out of the final year of his contract with the Sacramento Kings, small forward Rudy Gay is taking a big gamble on his NBA career in the quest to both make more money, but probably get to a better situation. While he has averaged 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in his 10-year NBA career, Gay has never been an All-Star, as his play has never really translated to winning.
Gay had spent the last 2.5 years of his NBA career perpetually frustrated in Sacramento. Coincidence or not, both the Memphis Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors got better after he was traded away from them. Memphis would reach its only Western Conference Finals in the same 2012-13 NBA season he was traded to the Raptors. After Gay’s 51 forgettable games with the Raptors, Toronto started to win Atlantic Division titles and Eastern Conference playoff series with great regularity.
That being said, it seems that Gay’s time in Northern California has changed his perspective on basketball. He will be 31-years old in 2017-18 and probably starts to covet playing in a winning situation. The only problems with that are Gay is primarily a mid-range player that is coming off a devastating ruptured Achilles’. If he thinks he is heading to a winning situation to play big minutes and get paid, Gay is sorely mistaken.
However if he is willing to pivot and be a sixth man of sorts coming off a playoff-caliber team’s bench, there could be high interest in teams looking for his guaranteed 15 points per game. Intrinsic motivation, a new start and possibly a new role would all be working for Gay. NBA teams will give him the benefit of the doubt this free agency cycle. That being said, Gay is running out of options to prove that he can be an impactful player on a winning team.
It’s going to be so hard to pry power forward Zach Randolph out of Memphis willingly. The guy is one of the most beloved players in Memphis Grizzlies basketball history. Without Randolph, there is no Grit N’ Grind era of Memphis basketball. However, he will be 36-years old and an expensive frontcourt option.
At one time, Randolph was a two-time All-Star in the frontcourt for the Grizzlies. In his NBA career, Randolph has averaged 16.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game playing a predominantly physical style of ball in the low post. It’s antiquated, but it’s hard to not love Randolph from afar as a basketball fan.
Memphis has three players on huge deals — point guard Mike Conley, center Marc Gasol and small forward Chandler Parsons. Obviously, Memphis would love to bring Randolph back, but the Grizzlies also have three other important players on their team hitting free agency in shooting guard Tony Allen, small forward Vince Carter and small forward JaMychal Green.
Green is significantly the youngest of the four, so he’s probably the one guy that is almost guaranteed to be back with Memphis. Should Randolph leave the Grizzlies this summer, it will probably be to join a team that can win multiple playoff series in his quest to win a ring. It would not be shocking to see him play for the rival San Antonio Spurs or the juggernaut Golden State Warriors.
While he hasn’t officially opted out of the third year of his contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, power forward/center Greg Monroe could be a very interesting piece in the frontcourt for a playoff-caliber team. Monroe would stand to make $17.9 million if he opts in, but he may not be overly thrilled with the rotational role he’s currently have to carve out for the Bucks.
Though Monroe’s first year in Milwaukee was not great, he was a Sixth Man of the Year candidate for the Bucks in 2016-17, averaging 11.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game playing for the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
That being said, Monroe did not start in any of the 81 regular season games he played for Milwaukee. However, he would still average 22.5 minutes per game for a playoff team. The big question is if Monroe sees himself as a high-end rotation player or a starter? He can be effective in either role, but this is the time in his career that he will have to decide that.
Since Monroe wasn’t a starter last year for Milwaukee, he won’t make as much as the $17.9 million he would stand to make in 2017-18. Add in that he offers absolute no jump shooting when he’s on the floor, it would difficult to see him garner top dollar in free agency anyway. However, Monroe is a player that can help turn a horrible frontcourt into a respectable one upon his arrival.
After an injury-riddled 6.5 years for Denver Nuggets small forward Danilo Gallinari, we could be seeing the end of his time in the Mile High City. Keep in mind that Gallinari was the biggest asset that the Nuggets got in that Carmelo Anthony trade with the New York Knicks back in 2011.
Since arriving in Denver, Gallinari has never played in more than 71 games in six full season. He missed the entire 2013-14 NBA season because of a knee injury he suffered in April 2013. Though Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly is open to re-working a deal with Gallinari, the Nuggets starting small forward did opt out of the final year of his Nuggets deal on May 30th to become a free agent.
In his NBA career, Gallinari has averaged 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in eight seasons between the Knicks and the Nuggets. Outside of that one outstanding season under George Karl in Denver, Gallinari has been playing in relative obscurity. It might be time for him to see what else is out there for him in the NBA world.
Injury concerns will obviously drive down his bargaining price, but teams that are in need of scoring at forward like the New Orleans Pelicans or the Sacramento Kings could be interested. Gallinari can no longer be even remotely considered a franchise cornerstone, but he can help a competitive team’s offense if he goes into the right situation.
Could Waiters Island up and leave from South Beach? Well, popular Miami Heat shooting guard Dion Waiters did opt out of the second year of his two-year contract with the Heat to hit unrestricted free agency. While Miami didn’t make the playoffs last year, his energy at the two-guard was certainly fun to watch.
Waiters has averaged 13.2 points, 2.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds in his five-year NBA career out of Syracuse with three teams: the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Oklahoma City Thunder and most recently Miami. The guy loves to shoot his shot, but can be an erratic player when having to play second fiddle on a good team. It happened in both Cleveland and Oklahoma City.
Frankly, it would be in his best interest to re-up with the Heat. Ideally, this would have been a great year for him to be hitting restricted free agency, so that he could garner a ton of money from a team like the Brooklyn Nets on an offer sheet, forcing Miami team president Pat Riley to begrudgingly bring Waiters Island back for more money.
Waiters is of that Lance Stephenson mold as a two-guard where he is great in some situations and disastrous in others. Expect Waiters to make a good bit of money in this free agency cycle. Given the impulsiveness of his NBA career and playing style thus far, there’s a good chance that he signs with your team this summer. Are we sure that we can cross off any team just yet in Waiters second trip into NBA free agency?
It’s interesting to think that point guard Jrue Holiday has already spent four years with the New Orleans Pelicans. Before being traded to New Orleans in the 2013 NBA Draft day trade involving center Nerlens Noel, Holiday was an All-Star point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers.
That feels like such a long time ago when a 22-year-old Holiday was about to enter his prime as a player. Obviously, injuries with the Pelicans have derailed him to some degree in his career, but Holiday enters unrestricted free agency coming off a halfway decent season with the Pelicans.
Holiday averaged 15.4 points 7.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 67 games for the Pelicans. That was the most he had played up to that point in a Pelicans uniform. While those numbers aren’t good enough to be an All-Star in the Western Conference, we should be expect Holiday to command a big payday this summer. New Orleans will have to pay him handsomely to keep him or he’s signing elsewhere.
By re-upping with the Pelicans Holiday would have at least another year to be the primary ball handler in an offense that features power forward Anthony Davis and center DeMarcus Cousins. If he leaves, it is almost certain that Holiday wouldn’t play with two players half as good as Boogie and The Brow. However, are we sure that New Orleans is making the Western Conference Playoffs next year? Maybe a change of scenery is the best thing for Holiday as he enters his late 20s?
One of the most intriguing players hitting his restricted free agency is Washington Wizards small forward Otto Porter Jr. After struggling in the NBA initially, Porter has stepped up his game to a high-end starting swingman in a league that just doesn’t have many of them.
Porter averaged 13.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 80 games for the Southeast Division Wizards in 2016-17. He was one of the biggest reasons that Washington nearly reached the Eastern Conference Finals this spring. Washington has already paid point guard John Wall and shooting guard Bradley Beal in their restricted free agencies. Is Porter going to get his?
Naturally, Washington would love to have Porter back on a second contract. He was the No. 3 overall pick out of Georgetown in the 2013 NBA Draft. However, Porter is a prime candidate to be offered a max contract by a terrible team just to force Washington’s hand.
Projecting forward, yes, Porter could be worth that type of high-end coinage here soon. The problem is that Washington’s bench is all sorts of rancid and the Wizards won’t win big if the second unit continues to run like a leaky faucet. Porter will get paid, but will Washington take it on the chin financially to overpay him to bring him back for the next four years?
It’s inevitable. The Los Angeles Clippers team we’ve come to know and largely hate these last few years will probably be no more. While point guard Chris Paul and power forward Blake Griffin could very well be coming back into the fold, it seems obvious that shooting guard J.J. Redick has become too expensive for the Clippers brass.
Though he will be 33-years of age next season, Redick is an elite 3-point shooter and could start at the two guard on an elite team. Redick has shown in the last four years with the Clippers that he can be the third or fourth-best player on a contending team. He has averaged 15. 8 points on 46.6 percent shooting from the field, making 44.0 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.
The problem is that he will absolutely make more than the $7,377,500 he made in the final year of his four-year deal with the Clippers. Griffin and Paul will get paid before Redick does. Then again, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is the wealthiest owner in basketball. Ballmer could pay a ridiculous premium to keep the band together, but when has it been enough?
Redick will probably be looking for a three-year deal with a player option for the fourth, worth at least $40 million over the lifetime of the contract. He may love playing in Los Angeles for the Clippers, as they were the team that finally let him start regularly. However, Redick is frankly worth too much to go back to Los Angeles on a fair market deal. There is a great chance that he goes East this summer.
It’s interesting how this has all come about. Did we honestly think that Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Taj Gibson would be one of the biggest names to be hitting unrestricted free agency this summer? We all knew that he was a good player for Tom Thibodeau’s Chicago Bulls, but his increased availability now that he’s out of Chicago makes him all the more appealing.
While Gibson averaged just 10.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in 2016-17 split between Chicago and Oklahoma City, he is exactly the type of starting-level to rotational piece a great team will want in their frontcourt. Though he’s not really a jump shooter beyond 18 feet, Gibson is sound defensively, skilled in the low-post game offensively and a huge boost to any locker room that grabs him.
In short, Gibson might be one of the two best glue-guys to be hitting free agency this summer along with Golden State Warriors small forward Andre Iguodala. Gibson could go back to the Thunder, but we have to believe that spacing with him and the ‘Stache Brothers would be far too clunky to be competent.
Given the intangibles and reputation as a bruiser down low, Gibson is primed to be a guy that will be overpaid as the fourth or fifth starter on a contending level team. He could go to a team that is already a lock to make the NBA Playoffs and help get them to the Conference Finals. Gibson would also be a huge get for a team like Thibodeau’s Minnesota Timberwolves that are on the come-up as a young basketball team. He is exactly the veteran leader a team like the Timberwolves needs to get over the hump.
It’s all good in Oakland for the NBA’s reigning champion Golden State Warriors. They have completed the best three-year run of any team in recent memory. While owner Joe Lacob still probably believes that his team is light years ahead of everybody else, Golden State has to go to work to bring the whole gang back for 2017-18.
Re-signing point guard Stephen Curry is obvious. He’ll make more than the $12 million he made in 2016-17. Technically, NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant could opt out his deal to become a free agent, but would probably only do so to free up more cap space for the Warriors to re-sign some other important role players, none more important than sixth man Andre Iguodala.
Though Iguodala isn’t a starting level player on a good team any more, he is most crucial for the Warriors being an absolute juggernaut. Iguodala is skilled on both ends of the floor and is the Warriors’ ultimate glue guy. While he only averaged 7.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists last year, he was worth every penny of that $11.1 million he made.
At 33-years old, Iguodala has a big personal decision to make. Does he take more money to sign elsewhere or does he continue to take less to keep winning NBA Championships? Even if Durant is willing to take less of his deal, there is a great chance Iguodala has played his last game in the Bay Area. Teams that want a piece of that Golden State greatness will overpay for Iguodala. Golden State won’t have the fair market financial resources to match.
There will not be a bigger name to be hitting restricted free agency this summer than Detroit Pistons shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The former star in the SEC for the Georgia Bulldogs has already put together four decent seasons playing predominantly for Stan Van Gundy in the Pistons starting lineup.
Caldwell-Pope averaged 13.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 76 games for Detroit last year. He continues to evolve as a shooter. While Caldwell-Pope only shot 39.9 percent from the field, he did sink a career-best 35.0 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.
Given that young shooting guards are at a premium, Caldwell-Pope is primed to receive major contract offer sheets from a wide array of teams. The biggest question is if Pistons general manager Jeff Bower will match an offer Caldwell-Pope would surely garner from a team worse than the Pistons?
Caldwell-Pope never gets hurt and plays with a Bulldog mentality on the hardwood (pun intended) that would be a huge boost to several teams looking for help out on the wing. His free agency is a bigger move for the Pistons than when center Andre Drummond hit his restricted free agency last summer. Re-signing Drummond was obvious, but forecasting Caldwell-Pope’s NBA ceiling is much murkier.
Keep an eye on the power forward market this summer. This is the position group that we could see the greatest amount of shuffling from. While the Toronto Raptors would love to bring him back into the fold on a long-term contract, power forward Serge Ibaka will get paid one way or another this summer in his unrestricted free agency.
Ibaka has already moved twice in the last year. He played for the 2015-16 Oklahoma City Thunder that were up 3-1 in the 2016 Western Conference Finals on the Golden State Warriors. That series would see Ibaka’s last game for the Thunder, as he was dealt to the Orlando Magic in a draft day trade for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova’s contract and what would become Domantas Sabonis. Orlando didn’t know what it was doing and dealt Ibaka to Toronto before the trade deadline.
Obviously, Toronto would not have traded for him if the Raptors didn’t think they had a great chance to re-sign Ibaka. The problem is that Toronto’s most valuable player in point guard Kyle Lowry will be hitting free agency as well, almost certainly commanding the five-year max with the Raptors. Could this leave Ibaka open to be poached by another team?
After averaging 14.8 and 6.8 rebounds between the Magic and Raptors, Ibaka is the best non-star on the power forward free agency market. Outside of a dysfunctional situation like the 2016-17 Magic, Ibaka will make every team he goes to better. There is almost no way he ends up signing with a non-playoff team this summer.
There was a big, three-team trade last summer between the Atlanta Hawks, the Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz. Atlanta got what would become small forward Taurean Prince. Indiana grabbed the hometown kid in point guard Jeff Teague. Utah finally found its floor general in George Hill. After one year, Atlanta and Utah won in that trade while Indiana might harbor some remorse.
Anyway, Hill was able to have one of his best seasons as a professional playing for Quin Snyder in Utah. Though he only played in 49 regular season games, Hill averaged 16.9 points, 4.1 assists and 3.4 rebounds for the Northwest Division champion Jazz. When he was on the court, Utah was a top-10 team in professional hoops.
While some general managers will try to knock him down a peg in free agency because of injury concerns, we know that Hill can run the point for a Conference Finals contender. Utah will have to pay a pretty penny to keep him around, but will need to prioritize re-signing small forward Gordon Hayward first.
Utah was great for Hill’s career and should be in the mix to bring him back into the fold. However, teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, the Orlando Magic and maybe even his former team in the San Antonio Spurs will try to sign him to a sweet four-year contract. Over the many free agent points guards this summer, Hill is the best player that is most likely to be poached.
Now we’re getting to some of the big guys here. Paul Millsap has been a four-time All-Star for the Atlanta Hawks. Under head coach Mike Budenholzer, Millsap has expanded his game into that of one of the best all-around frontcourt players in the NBA. Though he is on the wrong side of 30, his game should allow him to play at a high level for the next three years or so.
Millsap has loved playing in Atlanta, but probably realizes that this will be his last big contract as an NBA professional. He wisely opted out of the last year of his Hawks deal to enter the free agency market for the third time in five years. It’s worked out for him the last two times. Will he leave Atlanta?
This really all depends on how new Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk values Millsap. Schlenk had been with the Golden State Warriors before taking this Hawks job a few weeks ago. Millsap has been a Budenholzer and to some extent a Danny Ferry and Wes Wilcox guy. He will be getting a near max on the open market without question. The question is if there is a better landing spot for him than in Atlanta?
Millsap has averaged 17.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in four years with the Hawks. He may not win a championship in his prime in Atlanta, but two to three more great years out of Millsap almost certainly gets his No. 4 jersey retired by the Hawks. Atlanta should be favored to bring Millsap back, but his free agency has to be one of the most exciting to watch unfold.
The Toronto Raptors are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference not named the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s only fitting that they have the biggest player in the Eastern Conference hitting unrestricted free agency this summer in All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry.
Lowry has been massively instrumental in the best years of Raptors basketball history. He is a three-time All-Star with Toronto, having averaged 18.2 points, 6.8 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game in his five years with Canada’s professional basketball team.
While Lowry is a top-15 player in the NBA when he’s at his best, he will be 31-years old next season. Lowry will absolutely ask for the five-year deal with the Raptors on the max. Though that contract would be great for the Raptors initially, what happens in years four and five when he’s 34 and 35 years of age?
Given that he’s played his best ball for Toronto, it would be hard to see Lowry leave the Raptors organization. He will have his number retired by the team should he spend the rest of his NBA career in Canada. While being an ambassador for the sport in Canada, who’s to say that Lowry isn’t ready to go win a title? Toronto is close, but no cigar in that department going forward. It’d be surprising if Lowry left the Raptors, but he could be willing to take less to win a ring elsewhere.
Could he do it again? Well, let’s hope not, because last summer was all sorts of ridiculous with Kevin Durant leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the powerhouse Golden State Warriors, Yes, he won an NBA Championship and a finals MVP, but will Durant peace out on the Bay Area on a new deal?
Durant seems to like playing for Golden State and has taken quite the liking to the Bay Area. In short, Durant is not going anywhere this summer. That would be a total shocker if he went all one-and-done with Golden State. However, we could see him opt out of his deal with the Warriors anyway.
The logic behind doing so is that he could temporarily take less money so that it would better allow the Warriors to re-sign point guard Stephen Curry on a max contract, as well as bring back their two best rotational players. Small forward Andre Iguodala and point guard Shaun Livingston are also unrestricted free agents.
Voluntarily taking less is not exactly what the NBA Players’ Association fights for, but financial sacrifices are all part of the super team narrative. Though he could and probably will opt, don’t expect Durant to be taking his 25.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game anywhere but back to the Warriors for less money. The rich get richer thanks to kind folks taking hometown discounts.
The one team to watch this free agency cycle has to be the Los Angeles Clippers. Three of their four best players will likely be hitting unrestricted free agency. Shooting guard J.J. Redick will certainly be a free agent. He’s become too expensive to not command an eight-figure salary from the Clippers. Look for him to be playing East next fall.
There are two other guys of note to watch with the Clippers. Both of their superstars have early termination options they can exercise this summer. The first guy we’ll talk about is power forward Blake Griffin. When healthy, Griffin is an MVP level player for the Clippers. The problem is he’s never healthy.
Griffin has earned every penny he has ever made with the Clippers. He is the face of the best era of franchise history. Nobody puts random Angelinos in seats to watch Clippers games than Griffin. In seven seasons with Los Angeles, Griffin has made five All-Star teams, four All-NBA teams, averaging 21.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
Los Angeles will do what it takes to bring him back. However, we could see Griffin speak with teams like the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat and even his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder this summer. It’s starting to sink in that Griffin might leave the Clippers. If he goes East, the conference gets all the more powerful.
Will Chris Paul leave the Los Angeles Clippers? Though he would be leaving an absurd amount of money he mostly bargained for as the Players’ Association president, Paul will opt out of his deal with Los Angeles by exercising his early termination clause to be an unrestricted free agent.
People in his camp have articulated that he will meet with four teams including the Clippers. While the San Antonio Spurs meeting is obvious for ring reasons, Paul will also take meetings with the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets. Houston isn’t a great fit, but Denver is an intriguing one, especially since center Nikola Jokic is an emerging star.
Frankly, Paul has more leverage over one team than anybody not named LeBron James. He can and certainly will flex that over Steve Ballmer’s Clippers. Though it will likely come down to money, Paul could pivot and go to other winning situations like with the Miami Heat or the Milwaukee Bucks.
Paul is 32-years old, but is a nine-time All-Star, an eight-time All-NBA player and the best player in the game today without a championship ring. Could he be taking his career 18.7 points, 9.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game elsewhere? Possibly, but money talks with this one. However, it is time for Paul to honestly examine what his NBA legacy will be. Is he more John Stockton or Isiah Thomas?
Easily the biggest name to be hitting unrestricted free agency is Golden State Warriors two-time NBA MVP point guard Stephen Curry. No longer will Curry be playing for $12 million annually. He has elevated past his bum ankles from his early 20s. The guy is a bona fide superstar and is on the precipice of being a top-three point guard of all time.
In short, there is no way that Golden State will let Curry walk. If they do, Bob Myers and all of his staff didn’t do their jobs and will need to find new ones shortly. To say that there is even a fraction of a percentage chance that Curry will leave the Bay Area feels wrong. Frankly, the only place he could go would be back to his hometown of Charlotte.
The problem with that is the Charlotte Hornets already have an All-Star point guard in Kemba Walker. Let’s not forget that Hornets owner Michael Jordan bought the then Bobcats with all that Nike shoe money. Curry is an Under Armour guy thanks to former Warriors teammate Kent Bazemore.
So yes, Curry will be getting the five-year max from the Warriors this summer. Why would Golden State let extreme pettiness get in the way of sustaining a dynasty? Curry will be bringing his career 22.8 points, 6.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds back to the Bay Area for the foreseeable future. Though he’s the best true free agent available, NBA Twitter would explode if he left Golden State.
He may only be a first-time All-Star in 2017, but Utah Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward is the one player to watch in NBA free agency this summer. Hayward has spent his first seven NBA seasons in Salt Lake City playing for the Jazz. He will wisely opt out of the final year of his Jazz contract to test the unrestricted free agency market for the first time.
During his restricted free agency in summer 2014, Hayward did sign an offer sheet with the then Charlotte Bobcats. His first few years with the Jazz were frustrating, but the last three under head coach Quin Snyder have brought stability on the sidelines in Utah. Under Snyder, Hayward has become a top-20 player in the league at a premium position in the league.
Teams like the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat and his hometown Indiana Pacers could have interest in his services. The Boston connections stem from Hayward playing his college ball for Celtics head coach Brad Stevens in Butler. Miami is becoming a serious contender to land Hayward by the day.
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In 2016-17, Hayward averaged 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the best Jazz team in probably a decade. His free agency will come down to money, coaching and where he thinks he can win the most games. Utah, Boston and now Miami feel like the three teams to watch. Like LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant before him, this is Hayward’s free agency.