NBA’s best available free agents: The top bigs, ball-handlers and wings still on the market

Three weeks after the start of the NBA’s 2025 free agency period, most of the biggest prospective difference-makers have come off the board. That doesn’t mean, though, that the market is devoid of talented players — veterans of all shapes, sizes, experience levels and skill sets who might be capable of meaningfully, tangibly helping a club next season.

(Note: What follows will focus on unrestricted free agents. If you’d like to read about the games and statuses of restricted free agents Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes and Cam Thomas, then, boy, do I have just the link for you!)

Let’s take a spin through some of the best unsigned talent still on the board, starting with the big fellas, and a perennial postseason participant in search of a new home:

Best available free agents: Bigs • Ball-handlers • Wings

BIGS

Al Horford

The just-turned-39-year-old might not be on the market for long. He’s been tipped for weeks to join the Golden State Warriors, though as of press time, the deal remains unconsummated. So as long as he isn’t inked, Horford is the best big man available — one who’s only available, really, due to the Celtics responding to the shocking combination of Jayson Tatum’s ruptured Achilles tendon and their earlier-than-expected exit from the playoffs by pivoting into cost-saving mode and away from the kind of immediate title contention that an 18-year vet would reasonably want to pursue as he nears the end of the line.

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Horford’s shooting efficiency dipped last season from what he provided during Boston’s run to the 2024 NBA championship. He continued to produce, though, averaging 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 combined steals and blocks in 27.7 minutes per game, and remaining a key contributor for a Celtics team that won 61 games, finished in the top five in the NBA in both offensive and defensive efficiency — and performed better on both ends of the floor with the rock-solid vet on the floor. He’ll organize coverages, space the floor, move the ball and generally provide whatever you need on any given possession, and do it while providing the kind of steady hand and measured leadership you need in the postseason.

Chris Boucher

The last remaining member of the Raptors’ 2019 NBA title team, Boucher developed from the fringes of the rotation into a key frontcourt reserve over seven seasons in Toronto. Injuries and inconsistency have dampened his effectiveness from the 2020-21 peak that saw him finish eighth in Sixth Man of the Year voting — he’s played just under 1,600 minutes over the last two seasons combined — but the 6-foot-9, 200-pound Boucher can still both hoist triples and wreak some havoc defensively.

Only 26 NBA players last season blocked 20 shots, snagged 20 steals and made 70 3-pointers while shooting 36% or better from long distance. Boucher was one of them. That kind of potential two-way impact could be worth a flier on a short-money deal this late in the calendar.

Trey Lyles

The glass-half-empty take: Lyles is about to turn 30 and hitting free agency coming off his worst season in several years, shooting just 42% from the floor and 34% from 3-point range for an exceedingly underwhelming Kings team. Glass-half-full: He missed training camp with a groin injury and never quite got out from behind the 8-ball, and he’d shot better in each of the previous three seasons, during which more functional and less weirdly duct-taped-together Sacramento teams played better — sometimes significantly so — with Lyles on the floor than off it.

There’s always been a bit of jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none to the Kentucky product’s game; he’s not the kind of obvious, demonstrative talent on either end of the floor that demands to be built around. At his best, though, Lyles is a capable gap-filler — the sort of extra-pass-and-timely-rotation-making grout and mortar that holds possessions together. If he can also make shots more like he did from 2020 to 2024 (.594 true shooting percentage) than he did last season (.551), then he’s worth a look for a frontcourt rotation that’s a live body short.

Thomas Bryant

Bryant has spent the last three seasons backing up Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokić, Bam Adebayo and Myles Turner — gigs that haven’t exactly afforded him a ton of opportunities to log heavy minutes. When he has seen the floor, though, he’s flashed ability as a pick-and-roll dive man, a pick-and-pop floor-spacer, an offensive rebounder and an active participant in the transition game — a useful combination of skills off the bench for a team with postseason aspirations.

He also came up big in a couple of big spots during Indiana’s remarkable run to the NBA Finals, making a number of huge plays in closeout victories over Cleveland and New York.

“Look, Thomas has an indomitable spirit, as a person and a player,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after Indiana’s win over the Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, in which Bryant scored 11 points in 13 minutes. “Even when he’s not in the rotation, he’s over there in a defensive stance on the sidelines, and he is into it, and he’s ready. He is ready.”

Seems like a pretty decent guy to have around!

Precious Achiuwa

It was a frustrating 2024-25 for Achiuwa, who missed the first six weeks after suffering a preseason hamstring injury and saw his minutes and opportunities dwindle once Mitchell Robinson returned to New York’s rotation after the All-Star break. But while the 25-year-old’s interior finishing and perimeter shot-making both remain below league-average for an NBA big, he’s still a mobile and versatile defender capable of moving his feet in space who has posted strong block, steal and rebounding rates in a rotation role, and who’s just a year removed from playing real minutes (albeit due to a raft of injuries) for the Knicks in the postseason.

If you’re looking for a high-efficiency modern offensive big man, Achiuwa is probably not for you. If you need an energetic rebounder and defender to set screens and dive, though, he’s got the tools to be effective in a defined role.

Also on the market: Tristan Thompson, DeAndre Jordan, Taj Gibson, Alex Len, Bismack Biyombo, Charles Bassey

BALL-HANDLERS

Russell Westbrook

Only 14 NBA players last season logged at least 2,000 minutes and averaged at least 13 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds per game. It’s a list loaded with MVP, All-NBA and All-Star candidates … and Russ was on it.

Westbrook doesn’t play at that exalted level anymore; as his shooting efficiency dips, his turnover rate rises and his defensive effectiveness vacillates, he can prove to be a tricky on-court fit. But at age 36, 17 seasons into a Hall of Fame career, he’s still a productive player — one who injects energy into an offense in transition, operates effectively in the pick-and-roll and puts pressure on the rim, taking well over 40% of his field goal attempts at the basket last season and making 64% of them.

Westbrook can sometimes burn too hot for his own or his team’s good; he shot just 34.8% from the field and 21.9% from 3-point range with more turnovers than assists in Denver’s second-round loss to Oklahoma City. (It’s worth noting that, after the series, he had surgery to repair two broken bones in his shooting hand.) But the fire he plays with and the burst he still brings to bear both remain rare, even after all these years, and capable of helping contribute to success.

You might not feel super comfortable needing to turn to Russ in a gotta-have-it playoff game. At this point in the calendar, though, I’m not sure anybody left on the market is likely to prove more helpful in getting you through the regular season and to that kind of moment than he is.

Malcolm Brogdon

One of just two players in NBA history to win both Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year (shout out to Mike Miller), Brogdon’s star has dimmed in the two years since he shined as Boston’s top reserve, with a pair of trades — first to Portland, in the deal that made Jrue Holiday a Celtic, and then to Washington, in the swap that brought Deni Avdija to the Blazers — shuffling him to non-competitive teams and a host of injuries limiting him to just 63 games over the past two seasons.

When healthy, Brogdon is a useful piece in the backcourt. He’s a 38.8% career 3-point shooter, adept at knocking down shots off the catch or off the bounce. He’s a low-turnover secondary ball-handler and pick-and-roll facilitator — a heady playmaker with playoff experience. He’s a high-volume driver who can draw fouls and finish through contact. And while he’s not a great defender, he at least has enough size (6-4, 230 pounds) to be tough to hunt and bully defensively. The recent injury history is enough to give interested suitors pause, but if he’s able to stay on the court, Brogdon could be a low-cost, high-reward option for would-be contenders with a need in the backcourt.

Ben Simmons

We’re going on five seasons since Simmons last made an All-Star team, cracked double figures in points per game, played more than 51 games, or even attempted six shots or two free throws per game. Whether you chalk it up to a mental block dating back to that pass against the Hawks in the playoffs, the ongoing physical toll of persistent back injuries, some combination of both, or something else entirely, it seems reasonable to conclude that the former No. 1 overall draft pick isn’t likely to return to the All-NBA heights he reached once upon a time in Philadelphia.

Even so: 6-10, 230-pound dudes who can facilitate, rebound and defend multiple positions in multiple contexts don’t grow on trees. According to The BBall Index’s charting, only four players in the NBA last season (minimum 500 minutes played) finished in the 70th percentile or better in defensive positional versatility, defensive playmaking, perimeter isolation defense and help defensive activity: Draymond Green, Scottie Barnes, Jonathan Isaac … and Simmons.

That doesn’t mean he’s likely to find a major role on a team of consequence; barring a sudden, 180-degree reversal in his willingness to take shots at the basket, to accept contact in the process, and to both take and make free throws, that ship has all but certainly sailed. (To wit: After catching on with the Clippers following his buyout in Brooklyn, Simmons played just 16 minutes per game, ostensibly as a backup center, and logged a total of 42 minutes in L.A.’s seven-game playoff loss to the Nuggets.) But even a half-decade removed from his peak, Simmons’ physical tools and pedigree are still enticing enough — the Suns, Celtics, Knicks and Kings have all registered at least some level of interest, according to Marc Stein — that he’ll likely wind up getting another shot to prove he can still make a positive impact.

Monte Morris

Morris was once widely viewed as one of the best backup point guards in the NBA — a steady enough set of hands that, when Jamal Murray missed the entire 2021-22 season, the Nuggets just tossed him the keys to run with Nikola Jokić. He’d average 12.6 points and 4.4 assists per game on 48/40/87 shooting splits, helping Denver to 48 wins and a playoff berth (though, obviously, the giant Serbian guy deserved most of the credit for that).

The following season, though, Morris found himself on the move in a trade to Washington for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — a deal that solidified the Nuggets’ championship roster and gave Morris another chance as a starting point guard, but that started what’s been a rocky road for the Iowa State product. Since: four teams in three seasons, swapped for second-round picks twice and returned to reserve duty, with declining shooting efficiency (often a troubling development for a smaller guard) contributing to reduced opportunities.

Morris still has one of the steadiest sets of hands in the game: a 3.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio last season, a top-20 mark among players to appear in at least 40 games. If the shooting can tick back up toward his prior career numbers, the just-turned-30-year-old could be a strong pickup for a roster in need of a high-floor, low-mistake table-setter.

Cameron Payne

The well-traveled Payne has cemented himself as a backup point guard for a number of playoff teams in recent years, bouncing from Phoenix to Milwaukee to Philadelphia and, last season, to New York, where he shot 36.3% from deep with a 3.9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio as one of the relatively few reserve options that Tom Thibodeau felt he could trust.

Payne repaid that trust early in the postseason, helping spark a fourth-quarter run as the Knicks climbed out of a fourth-quarter deficit in Game 1 against the Pistons at Madison Square Garden …

… but struggled mightily thereafter, shooting just 23.3% from the field over New York’s next 13 playoff games before getting removed from the rotation midway through the Eastern Conference finals in favor of the more defensively capable Delon Wright and Landry Shamet. Even after putting him on the bench, though, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau continued to praise Payne as a consummate professional who’s all about doing what’s best for the team — traits that, when combined with low turnovers and high-volume 3-point shooting, tend to keep you employed for a long while in this league.

Also on the market: Delon Wright, Cory Joseph, Patty Mills, Jared Butler, Markelle Fultz, Elfrid Payton

WINGS

Malik Beasley

After becoming just the fifth player in NBA history to make 300 3-pointers in a single season, helping the Pistons to return to the playoffs for the first time in six years, and finishing second in Sixth Man of the Year voting, Beasley seemed poised to cash in with a lucrative multi-year deal to return to Detroit as soon as free agency opened. And then we learned Beasley was the subject of a federal gambling investigation related to instances of “unusually heavy betting interest on [his] statistics” during his tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks — a revelation that put the kibosh on the 28-year-old’s contract talks.

Before long, the Pistons pivoted, bringing in reserves Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson — a high-usage reserve guard and a high-volume movement shooter, effectively filling both of the roles Beasley had played in Detroit last season.

Obviously, Beasley’s legal status would seem to be the primary factor in determining his NBA future; you’d imagine that, unless he’s unequivocally cleared of any wrongdoing in the federal gambling probe, no team in the league will be willing to even tiptoe toward bringing him in. If such an exoneration does come, though … well, the only other guys who’ve ever shot 41% from 3 while taking them as often as Beasley just did are Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and they’re not available. If Beasley is, and if the feds give the all-clear, some team will absolutely kick the tires on a buy-low reclamation project.

Gary Payton II

Payton’s value is probably always going to be both highly situation-dependent and heavily in the eye of the beholder.

On one hand, he’s played 1,000 minutes once in nine NBA seasons, and has never come close to averaging even 20 minutes per game. He’s a 6-2 guard who’s barely made a third of his 3-point tries for his career, who has never consistently or effectively created his own shots at the NBA level, and who turns 33 in December. He doesn’t seem like a guy you necessarily want to pay if you have the option of giving a younger guard with more potentially unrealized upside an opportunity to see if he can develop into something more.

On the other, Payton was a legitimate rotation piece on a championship team three seasons ago. He is consistently one of the best and most disruptive point-of-attack defenders in the NBA on a possession-by-possession basis, routinely sitting at or near the top of the leaderboard in steals and deflections per 36 minutes and ranking in the 93rd percentile or higher in defensive estimated plus-minus in three of the last four seasons. He doesn’t shoot all that much, but he makes ’em from the corners, shooting 37% or better on those looks in each of the last four years. He moves well off the ball, times his cuts well, punches above his weight class as a screener in guard-guard pick-and-rolls, generates extra possessions on the offensive glass, and generally delivers a lot of value without needing the ball in his hands a lot … which makes him seem like a guy you do want to pay if you’re trying to fill in the gaps around a high-volume, attention-demanding shot creator.

Like, say, Steph. But will the Warriors, who’ve yet to make any moves while they sort out the Kuminga situation, have room to bring GPII back? If not, it’ll be interesting to see which teams might consider themselves the right kind of fit for a productive but particular player.

Amir Coffey

The myriad injuries that have beset the Clippers seemingly every season have afforded Coffey, undrafted out of Minnesota in 2019, to work his way from the G League into consistent rotation run, averaging 20.7 minutes per game over the last four seasons. He shot 40.9% from 3-point range on 3.4 attempts per game while spending time at the 2, 3 and 4 spots for Tyronn Lue; he’s also consistently ranked as a net-negative producer in his minutes, with the Clippers routinely performing much better when he’s off the court than on it.

Coffey will likely find himself squeezed out of a spot on a Clippers roster that has added veterans Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, John Collins and Brook Lopez to holdovers Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Ivica Zubac, Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn and Nicolas Batum. You’d expect a 6-7 wing who just shot 40% from deep to get a chance to catch on elsewhere, though; whether he sticks might depend on whether he can show more, especially on the defensive end, in a different context.

Alec Burks

Entering his 15th NBA season, Burks’ value at this stage largely depends on whether his jumper is falling. (Who among us, right?) But if you need a professional guard with size and experience who can handle the ball, attack an already bent defense and offer a spot-up threat, Burks showed last season that he can still be equal to the task.

After stepping into a larger-than-perhaps-anticipated role in Miami after The Jimmy Unpleasantness turned into The Post-Jimmy Era, Burks averaged just under eight points and three rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game, shooting 41.7% from 3-point range in the second half of the season. Asking him to shoulder too much of the shot-creation workload or assume bigger defensive responsibilities probably won’t end too well, but the 34-year-old still has enough gas left in the tank to be worth a look for a team in need of an experienced complementary catch-and-shoot threat and second-side slasher.

Seth Curry

Look, I’m not going to blame you if you weren’t, like, super locked in to the exploits of the 2024-25 Charlotte Hornets — a basketball team that only intermittently resembled a basketball team, and that faced existential questions about what it was even trying to accomplish most nights (and especially the ones where LaMelo Ball wasn’t present).

What I will say to you, though, is that under cover of national-media darkness, Seth Curry shot 45.6% from 3-point range on 182 attempts — the fifth time he’s made 45% of his triples while taking at least 100, tying Kyle Korver for the second-most such seasons in NBA history, behind only Hubert Davis — which led the NBA. He also ranked in the 85th percentile or higher in points per possession finished as a spot-up shooter, pick-and-roll ball-handler, attacking in transition or working in isolation, according to Synergy.

He’s also a 6-2 combo guard who’s a glaring defensive minus, who has battled injuries and played limited minutes the past few seasons, and who will turn 35 before training camps open in September. (To some extent, Seth’s sort of like the yin to GPII’s yang.) Even so: teams will always be looking for elite, capital-S Shooters, especially when they’re also low-turnover ball-handlers with experience, pedigree and professionalism. Whether it’s a playoff hopeful in need of another floor spacer or an up-and-coming team looking for a good vet to show its youngsters the ropes, it’s likely that somebody’s going to give Curry the opportunity to get back on the court for a 12th NBA season this fall.

Also on the market: Landry Shamet, Brandon Boston Jr., Lonnie Walker IV (though he might be returning to Europe), Talen Horton-Tucker, Dalano Banton

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