Current Free Agents Who Played Most In 2015/16

With NBA training camps nearing, and the start of a new regular season only a couple months away, the list of 2016 free agents doesn’t include a ton of intriguing names. After the Cavaliers re-signed LeBron James, who remained on the market until mid-August, it left LeBron’s teammate J.R. Smith as the most noteworthy player available.

Smith averaged more than 30 minutes per regular season game for the Cavs last season, totaling 2,362 minutes overall, which doesn’t even include the 730 minutes he played in the postseason. Smith’s regular-season minutes total easily makes him the free agent who played the most last season, among those who have yet to sign a contract.

Still, Smith isn’t the only current free agent who saw plenty of action for an NBA team last season and hasn’t been able to find a deal so far this summer. By our count, there are 15 other players who were on the court for at least 800 minutes during the NBA’s 2015/16 regular season and remain unsigned.

That total doesn’t include players who missed a portion of the season with an injury and didn’t reach that 800-minute threshold as a result — Rockets RFA forward Donatas Motiejunas, for instance, would have played more than 1,200 minutes if he had played in all 82 games and his MPG had remained the same. Instead, injuries limited him to just 37 contests and 547 minutes.

Listed below are the 16 players – including Smith – who played more than 800 NBA minutes last season and remain out of work. The list is heavy on guards, while big men are harder to come by. As such, teams looking to add some experienced veteran depth to their roster could explore the free agent market if they’re seeking backcourt help, but may prefer the trade market if they’re after a big man.

Here’s the list, with 2015/16’s minutes totals noted in parentheses:

Which of these veteran free agents do you expect to find a home sooner rather than later? Are there any that you don’t expect to see back in the NBA at all in 2016/17?

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