The Best Remaining Players Still Available

Roughly two weeks into the 2022 edition of NBA free agency, the market is already barren.

Few teams entered the offseason with any salary-cap space whatsoever, which limited the landing spots for big-name free agents. Former Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson, who signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the New York Knicks, is the most notable player to date who changed teams via free agency.

Most teams only had either the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($10.5 million), the taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.5 million) or room mid-level exception ($5.4 million) to spend, while a few others also had the bi-annual exception ($4.1 million). That caused some free agents to settle for short-term, below-market deals as they await a more cap-friendly environment in future summers.

While most of the top-tier free agents are already off the board, a handful of impact players remain available. The San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers are the only teams left with a significant amount of cap space, but teams without cap room could try to negotiate sign-and-trades to land a desired target.

For teams still shopping on the free-agent market, these are the top remaining names to monitor.

5. Eric Bledsoe, PG (UFA)

From 2014-15 through 2020-21, Eric Bledsoe started in all but one of the 462 regular-season games he played with the Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans. His efficiency has waned in recent years—he’s shot only 42.1 percent from the field in each of the past two seasons—but it wasn’t long ago that he was averaging around 15-16 points, 5-6 assists and 4-5 rebounds per game in Milwaukee.

Bledsoe started in only 29 of his 54 appearances with the Los Angeles Clippers this past season, averaging 9.9 points, 4.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game. The Clippers shipped him as salary-filler to the Portland Trail Blazers ahead of the February trade deadline in the package for Robert Covington and Norman Powell.

Bledsoe had only $3.9 million of his 2022-23 salary fully guaranteed, and the Blazers waived him in early July before the remaining $15.5 million become guaranteed. Although he no longer profiles as an every-game starter, the 32-year-old could still help anchor the second unit of a team without a reliable backup ball-handler.

Bledsoe is a career 33.6 percent three-point shooter on relatively low volume, so he won’t help space the floor a ton. However, he isn’t far removed from back-to-back appearances on the NBA’s All-Defensive teams (first team in 2018-19 and second team in 2019-20). He also averaged 1.3 steals per game with the Clippers in his limited minutes this past season.

With cap space and mid-level exceptions mostly dried up around the league, Bledsoe may have to settle for a one-year minimum deal. Depending on how the eventual Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving trades shake out, he might be able to find an opportunity on a team that suddenly finds itself desperate for veteran depth.

4. Dennis Schroder, PG (UFA)

Dennis Schroder has become the latest in a long line of NBA cautionary tales.

Last March, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Los Angeles Lakers had offered him a four-year, $84 million contract extension. Schroder later said that he “never had that contract in front of me,” although he added, “but they wanted to talk, and at the end of the day, me and my agent decided not to sign their contract.”

When salary-cap space dried up leaguewide last offseason, Schroder wound up signing a one-year, $5.9 million contract with the Boston Celtics. He lasted only 49 games with them before they sent him, Enes Freedom and Bruno Fernando to the Houston Rockets for Daniel Theis ahead of the February trade deadline.

Schroder averaged 13.5 points on 43.1 percent shooting, 4.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds between Boston and Houston last season. His best season came with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019-20, when he averaged 18.9 points on 46.9 percent shooting, 4.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds while starting in only two of his 65 regular-season appearances.

If Schroder realizes he’s better suited for a super-sub role than a starting job, he could fill a Lou Williams or Jordan Clarkson-esque hole for a contender. He’s a high-volume, low-efficiency chucker, but teams can never have too many off-the-dribble bucket-getters once the playoffs come around.

3. Montrezl Harrell, PF/C (UFA)

Montrezl Harrell has a clearly specified role at this point in his NBA career: high-energy backup big man.

Harrell has started only 14 of his 361 games over the past five seasons, but that hasn’t stopped him from averaging 14.5 points on 61.6 percent shooting and 5.9 rebounds over that span. The 6’7″, 240-pound forward isn’t much of a three-point shooter, but he’s a strong pick-and-roll threat and has been among the league leaders in points per shot attempt among all big men throughout each of his seven NBA seasons.

Harrell lacks the size to be a strong rim protector, and he isn’t a switchable small-ball 5 like Draymond Green, either. That makes him more of an 82-game player than a 16-game player, but there’s value in having regular-season minutes-eaters to keep your stars fresh.

Legal issues may be the main reason why Harrell remains unsigned. He’s facing felony drug charges after police found a backpack with three pounds of marijuana in the backseat of a car he was driving in May, according to Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. Harrell has a hearing on July 13, so teams may be waiting to see the outcome—and whether he faces an NBA suspension—before engaging him in serious contract negotiations.

Harrell played on the non-taxpayer mid-level exception for the past two seasons, although he might not find a similarly lucrative offer awaiting him this offseason. Either way, he should wind up on a roster at some point before the regular season begins.

2. Collin Sexton, PG/SG (RFA)

No player has felt the squeeze of restricted free agency more than Collin Sexton this summer.

In 2020-21, Sexton averaged a career-high 24.3 points on 47.5 percent shooting, 4.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 three-pointers while shooting 37.1 percent from deep. Had he sustained that level of production last season, he likely would have been looking at max or near-max contract offers in free agency.

Instead, Sexton played only 11 games before suffering a torn meniscus that sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Sexton has already been cleared for full basketball activities, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, and has made “a complete recovery” from his injury. However, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ ability to match any offer sheet that he signs with another team has perhaps deterred suitors from even engaging.

A Cavaliers source told Spencer Davies of Basketball News that he was “quite confident” Sexton would be back in Cleveland next season one way or another. He could either sign a new contract with the Cavaliers or take his $8.6 million qualifying offer, which would enable him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Questions remain about whether the 6’1″, 190-pound Sexton would be best suited coming off the bench in a super-sub role rather than starting. Either way, the 23-year-old is one of the highest-upside players remaining on an otherwise bleak free-agent market.

1. Deandre Ayton, C (RFA)

Deandre Ayton is the best free agent left on the market by a long shot, but it might not stay that way for much longer. On Monday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said he believed the Indiana Pacers were “very close” to either signing Ayton to an offer sheet or pulling off a sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Suns.

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 Phoenix, the Pacers are waiting to finalize the Malcolm Brogdon trade with the Boston Celtics before extending an offer sheet to Ayton. They currently don’t have enough salary-cap space to offer him a max or near-max contract, but they will once that trade becomes official.

If the Pacers manage to pry Ayton away either via an offer sheet or a sign-and-trade—the Suns could always match their offer sheet otherwise—it would be an undeniable jolt to their ongoing rebuild. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick averaged 17.2 points on 63.4 percent shooting and 10.2 rebounds in only 29.5 minutes per game with Phoenix this past season.

Ayton was key to the Suns’ run to the 2021 NBA Finals, but his relationship with the team appeared to deteriorate in recent months. League sources told Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer that Ayton “is not particularly a favorite” of Suns head coach Monty Williams, and that “Phoenix brass simply does not view Ayton, or any center, as a player worth greater than $30 million annually.”

The Pacers, whose key players—Tyrese Haliburton, Chris Duarte and Bennedict Mathurin—are all on rookie contracts for at least the next two seasons, can afford such a gamble. It’s easy to imagine Haliburton and Ayton in particular forming a dynamic pick-and-roll duo for years to come.

The San Antonio Spurs are the only other team with anywhere near enough cap space to give Ayton a max or near-max offer sheet, although the Suns might prefer if they could sign-and-trade him as part of a larger Kevin Durant deal. Regardless, it appears as though his future should be resolved shortly.

Restricted free agent Miles Bridges was intentionally excluded from these rankings because he was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge on June 29.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac or RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.