Welcome to the NBA offseason crisis – half the league is on vacation, there are few trades and the ones that do happen are mostly to fill out the back end of the roster (Utah hires Patty Millsfor example) or block two-way players and camp invites.
Still, there are some free agents worth noting. They’re not game changers, but rather guys who could fill a rotation spot and help a team. Here are the seven best free agents still on the market today.
1. Markelle Fultz
This one surprises me a little because out of the spotlight in Orlando, Fultz has become a solid point guard when healthy. A few things slowed the teams down. First and foremost are health concerns – he played 43 games last season and 129 in the previous four. Second, he needs the ball in his hands to be most effective, but he’s not a great shooter (22.2% from 3 last season).
Still, he could give a team solid bench minutes as a backup, but no team has yet made any moves. He will have to accept a minimum contract at this point, possibly from Orlando.
The Cavaliers guard was hoping for a raise from the $8.9 million he made last season (the final year of his rookie contract), but was crushed by the tight free agent market. Okoro averaged 9.4 points per game last season and shot 39.1 percent from 3, but teams weren’t offering more than Cleveland would have matched. The Cavaliers let the market play out, no team was willing to go overboard with a huge offer (so no team made any offers), and here we are. Okoro will likely re-sign with the Cavaliers before training camp.
Walker averaged 9.7 points per night in 58 games with the Nets last season, shooting 38.4%. Those are solid numbers and Walker could fit into many team rotations, though whether he fits into a changing Brooklyn is up for debate. The challenge is that the board sees Walker as a goalscorer and little more. Still, some team should sign him to a minimum deal, he can get team buckets and is capable of shining in a few games a season.
The veteran guard spent last season in Denver, where he played in 58 games and averaged four points per night, shooting 40.4% from 3, then saw an increase in minutes during the playoffs against the Timberwolves. With that, he was probably looking for a salary above the veteran minimum (which he got last season), but the deal wasn’t there. At 35, he will be signed by a team looking for a veteran presence off the bench, but he can come in and be a stabilizing force.
Osman was a regular part of the Spurs’ rotation last season, averaging 6.8 points per game and shooting 38.9% from 3 in the 72 games he played in (all but 3 off the bench). Osman has said he would like to return to the Spurs, but at this point any team looking to add shooting off the bench might want to give him a call. He’s under 30, has good size (6’7″) and can fit into multiple teams.
Smith is another player who was left without a seat when the music stopped following the Nets’ offseason moves. Last season, the point guard averaged 6.6 points and 3.6 assists per game in Brooklyn. While he’s not a great outside shooter (career 29.8% from 3), he can run the show and provide rotation minutes off the bench. Although there have been rumors about some teams, nothing has yet materialized.
Davis Bertans was released by Charlotte this summer — while he was on the court for his native Latvia in an Olympic qualifying game — and has not yet been signed, although the 76ers are rumored to have interest. Bertans is a 6’10” floor-spacer who averaged 6.7 points per game and shot 38% from 3 last season with Oklahoma City and Charlotte. Many teams could use a small four/five to space the floor off the bench, so it’s easy to imagine him closing a deal somewhere before training camp.
Honorable mention: Boban Marjanović, Talen Horton-Tucker, Marcus Morris Sr., Evan Fournier, Tristan Thompson, Reggie Bullock, Danilo Gallinari, Jae Crowder, TJ Warren, Thaddeus Young, Robert Covington and Javonte Green.
