Top 2019 NBA Free Agents Still Available
Free agents have come off the board at a dizzying pace since the NBA’s 2019 free agent period officially got underway on Sunday night. In less than 48 hours, 39 of the 50 players on our list of 2019’s best free agents agreed to deals with NBA teams.
[RELATED: 2019 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
However, that doesn’t mean that there are no good options left on the open market. Even beyond the No. 1 free agent on our list (Kawhi Leonard), there are several players available who should be reliable contributors to NBA teams in 2019/20.
We have full lists of the free agents available by position/type and by team, but here’s a quick breakdown of some of the more notable names from those lists:
(Note: This list was published at 9:00am CT on July 2. If you’re reading it much later than that, some of these players may have since come off the board.
Free agents from our top-50 list:
- Kawhi Leonard, F
- DeMarcus Cousins, C
- Marcus Morris, F
- Kelly Oubre, F, Suns (RFA)
- Danny Green, G
- Willie Cauley-Stein, C
- Jabari Parker, F
- Tyus Jones, G, Timberwolves (RFA)
- JaMychal Green, F
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, G
- Ivica Zubac, C, Clippers (RFA)
Free agents that received honorable mentions in our top-50 list:
- Khem Birch, C, Magic (RFA)
- James Ennis, F
- Justin Holiday, G/F
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, F
- Trey Lyles, F, Nuggets (RFA)
- JaVale McGee, C
- Rodney McGruder, G, Clippers (RFA)
- Emmanuel Mudiay, G
- Noah Vonleh, F
- Delon Wright, G, Grizzlies (RFA)
More noteworthy free agents:
- Tyson Chandler, C
- Quinn Cook, G, Warriors (RFA)
- Nando De Colo, G, Raptors (RFA)
- Kenneth Faried, F/C
- Jeff Green, F
- Boban Marjanovic, C
- T.J. McConnell, G
- Darius Miller, F
- Markieff Morris, F
- Nene, C
- Joakim Noah, C
- Rajon Rondo, G
- Iman Shumpert, G/F
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Norvel Pelle Signs Two-Way Contract With Sixers
JULY 2: The Sixers have issued a press release formally announcing Pelle’s two-way contract.
JULY 1: The Sixers have signed center Norvel Pelle to a two-way contract, his agent BJ Bass told Hoops Rumors’ own JD Shaw (Twitter link). We initially reported last week that Pelle would get a two-way deal with Philadelphia.
Pelle, who went undrafted in 2014, played for the G League Delaware Blue Coats last season. The 6’11” big man was named to the NBAGL All-Defensive Team. Pelle, 26, also made a number of stops overseas during his career.
Haywood Highsmith previously occupied one of the team’s two-way contracts before being waived last week. Highsmith will join Philadelphia’s Summer League team in Las Vegas.
Free Agent Rumors: Cousins, Kawhi, D. Green, Ennis
Big man DeMarcus Cousins is perhaps the biggest name left among free agents besides Kawhi Leonard, but there doesn’t appear to be much of a market for him, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said during an appearance on the network (video link). According to Wojnarowski, it’s not even necessarily a lock that Cousins will exceed the one-year, $5.34MM deal he signed with the Warriors a year ago.
In a separate appearance on ESPN’s Get Up (video link), Woj suggested that a one-year deal below $10MM for Cousins appears to be the most likely scenario, while ESPN’s Tim Bontemps pointed to the Lakers as one team that might be a fit in terms of cap room — but only if they fail to land Leonard.
Here’s more on some of the remaining free agents:
- Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins (Twitter link) hears that Kawhi Leonard met with the Clippers on Monday night, though Perkins believes the Lakers have the “upper hand” of the two L.A. teams. After meeting with the Clippers and Lakers, Kawhi is expected to give the Raptors the chance to make the final pitch before he finalizes his decision.
- The Mavericks are in “strong position” to land free agent shooting guard Danny Green, regardless of what happens with Leonard’s free agency, tweets his podcast co-host Harrison D. Sanford. According to Sanford (via Twitter), Dallas views Green as a valuable floor spacer and locker-room presence.
- With approximately $4MM in cap space and their $4.8MM room exception still available, the Knicks have checked in on free agent wing James Ennis, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. According to Begley (via Twitter), the Lakers and Clippers are also among the clubs that have touched base with Ennis since free agency started.
NBA 2019 Free Agency: Day 2 Recap
The list of available NBA free agents continued to shrink on Monday, which was technically the first full day of 2019’s free agent period. Nearly two dozen more standard contracts were agreed upon, and a few more trade agreements were reached as well.
Listed below are July 1’s notable contract and trade agreements. For the most part, these deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these deals sometime after the July moratorium ends on Saturday.
Here are Monday’s noteworthy contract agreements:
- Maxi Kleber, Mavericks agree to four-year, $33MM contract.
- Seth Curry, Mavericks agree to four-year, $32MM contract.
- Tomas Satoransky, Bulls agree to three-year, $30MM contract (sign-and-trade).
- Wayne Ellington, Knicks agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
- Elfrid Payton, Knicks agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
- Kevon Looney, Warriors agree to three-year, $15MM contract.
- Ish Smith, Wizards agree to two-year, $12MM contract.
- Richaun Holmes, Kings agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
- Frank Kaminsky, Suns agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
- Enes Kanter, Celtics agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
- Matt Thomas, Raptors agree to three-year, $4.2MM contract.
- Austin Rivers, Rockets agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- J.J. Barea, Mavericks agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Troy Daniels, Lakers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Wesley Matthews, Bucks agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Tim Frazier, Pistons agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Jordan Bell, Timberwolves agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Isaiah Thomas, Wizards agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Kyle O’Quinn, Sixers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Anthony Tolliver, Trail Blazers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Michael Carter-Williams, Magic agree to one-year contract (terms not yet known).
- Nerlens Noel, Thunder agree to contract (terms not yet known).
- Alec Burks, Thunder agree to contract (terms not yet known).
Here are the trades (or trade structures) agreed upon today:
- Trail Blazers to acquire Hassan Whiteside, Heat to acquire Meyers Leonard, and Clippers to acquire Maurice Harkless and a first-round pick in a four-team trade that will include Jimmy Butler‘s sign-and-trade deal.
- Bulls to acquire Tomas Satoransky (via sign-and-trade) from Wizards for multiple second-round picks.
- Timberwolves to acquire Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, and cash from Warriors.
Here are the rest of today’s noteworthy moves:
Previously:
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Western Notes: Russell, Suns, Beverley, Kings, Rivers, Blazers
The Timberwolves, led by D’Angelo Russell‘s close friend Karl-Anthony Towns, were confident about their ability to get a commitment from Russell in free agency and went into their Sunday meeting with him ready to make the trades necessary to make a deal work, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Minnesota was just waiting for the green light from D-Lo to move forward on those trades, but the All-Star point guard instead opted to join the Warriors.
The Suns were viewed as a team that might try to get into the mix for Russell, who has another good friend – Devin Booker – in Phoenix. However, despite Booker’s campaign, Phoenix chose not to pursue the RFA guard, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. According to Rankin, the Suns “apparently felt Russell wouldn’t have been a good influence on Booker off the court.”
The Warriors, with their veteran leaders, apparently had no such qualms about D-Lo, who – by all accounts – matured considerably during his time in Brooklyn.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- After agreeing to sign a three-year, $40MM deal with the Clippers, Patrick Beverley tells Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times that he turned down a more lucrative offer from the Kings to return to L.A. “I got a bigger offer from Sacramento and I took $9-10 million less to come here,” Beverley said. “… It was the right decision. Of course, the human part of you wants to take as much money as you see, but all money isn’t good money. I did what was best for me and my family and I did what was best to stay on a winning team, and I feel like I made the right decision.”
- Despite Beverley’s comments, Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link) hears that the Kings offered the veteran guard a guaranteed total of $35MM over three years, with a partial guarantee in year three. Theoretically, it’s possible that Beverley’s claim could still be accurate if that third-year partial guarantee was very small and he’s including the non-guaranteed money as part of Sacramento’s bid.
- Before he agreed to return to the Rockets for the veteran’s minimum, Austin Rivers had offers in the range of the $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. “Now that the league is wide open, I just saw an opportunity,” Rivers said. “You can’t really put a price on happiness. The goal was to come back to Houston all along. I think we have the team to beat.”
- The Trail Blazers have announced Terry Stotts‘ coaching staff for the upcoming season, with Nate Tibbetts replacing David Vanterpool as the team’s associate head coach. Portland has also promoted Jim Moran to the front of the bench and hired former NBA guard Jannero Pargo as an assistant.
Eastern Notes: Wizards, Heat, Celtics
The Wizards are still looking to make moves with their $8.6MM trade exception and in free agency, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets. Washington has already agreed to a sign-and-trade to ship out Tomas Satoransky to the Bulls, agreed to a two-year deal with Ish Smith and come to terms with center Thomas Bryant on a three-year deal.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Heat are still seeking to ship out contracts to ease their cap burden and reduce the need to stretch Ryan Anderson‘s contract, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. Miami is hopeful of reducing or eliminating its luxury tax penalty for next summer, Jackson adds. The Heat are trying to hold onto Bam Adebayo, Justise Winslow and Derrick Jones Jr. but are open to moving other veterans, Jackson adds in another tweet. The Heat have been extremely active in recent days, most notably piecing together a sign-and-trade for Jimmy Butler and reaching an agreement to trade Hassan Whiteside to the Trail Blazers.
- The Celtics have reached agreements with free agents Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter but they’re far from done, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The Celtics are still looking at a number of free agents and potential sign-and-trades that could free up money to get another impact player, Bulpett continues. Interior defense is the biggest area of need, he adds.
Blazers Sign First-Rounder Nassir Little
The Trail Blazers have signed their first-round pick, small forward Nassir Little, according to a team press release.
Little will make approximately $2.1MM in his first NBA season if he receives the max on the rookie scale.
The 25th overall pick played one season at North Carolina, where he averaged 9.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG and 18.2 MPG over 36 games as the team’s top reserve.
Heat’s Jimmy Butler Sign-And-Trade Deal To Include Clippers, Blazers
7:58pm: The 2023 first-round pick being sent from the Heat to Clippers will be lottery-protected through 2025, then unprotected in 2026, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
5:00pm: The Clippers will receive a protected 2023 first-round pick from the Heat in the deal, according to ESPN’s full report.
4:17pm: The sign-and-trade deal that will send Jimmy Butler to the Heat and Josh Richardson to the Sixers has been agreed upon, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
As Wojnarowski explains (via Twitter), the trade between the Trail Blazers and Heat that will send Hassan Whiteside to Portland is becoming part of the transaction, with Maurice Harkless being re-routed to the Clippers to make it a four-team deal.
The Clippers will also receive a future first-round pick from Miami, according to Wojnarowski. Since the Heat have already traded their 2021 first-round selection to the Clippers and can’t give away consecutive future first-rounders, the next one that is trade-eligible would be the 2023 selection, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
As part of the four-team swap, the Sixers will send the draft rights to 2017 second-rounder Mathias Lessort to the Clippers, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).
As of now then, this is what the deal would look like:
- To Heat: Jimmy Butler (via sign-and-trade, getting a four-year, $141MM contract) and Meyers Leonard.
- To Sixers: Josh Richardson
- To Clippers: Maurice Harkless, a future Heat first-round pick, and the draft rights to Mathias Lessort.
- To Trail Blazers: Hassan Whiteside
After acquiring Harkless, the Clippers will still have a maximum-salary slot available in the event that Kawhi Leonard decides to join them, tweets Marks. It would be a tight fit though, notes ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who tweets that the club might have to renounce a couple of small cap holds. Obviously, if Leonard decides to go elsewhere, that wouldn’t be necessary.
As for the Heat, they had let Goran Dragic‘s camp know that they’d likely to need to move the point guard in order to complete the Butler acquisition, but that shouldn’t be necessary after all, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
Still, as Marks points out (via Twitter), Miami will have to make an additional move to make sure it gets below the hard cap $138.9MM that applies to teams that acquire a player via sign-and-trade. Waiving and stretching Ryan Anderson‘s contract looks like the most logical path for the Heat.
We have more details in other stories on the Butler/Richardson aspect of this deal, as well as the Blazers’ Whiteside acquisition.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hawks Sign Cam Reddish, Charlie Brown
The Hawks signed the No. 10 overall pick, Duke forward Cam Reddish, to a rookie contract, according to a team press release.
The 6’8” Reddish averaged 13.5 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 36 games in his lone year with the Blue Devils.
Reddish can receive a first-year max of $4.246MM under the rookie scale. He can make $4.458MM and $4.67MM during the next two seasons.
Atlanta also officially signed undrafted forward Charlie Brown Jr. to a two-way contract, according to another team press release. The 6’7” St. Joseph product was the Atlantic 10’s leading scorer last season at 19.0 PPG and also grabbed 6.2 RPG.
Brown’s agreement with the Hawks was reported shortly after the draft.
Lakers Sign Zach Norvell Jr. To Two-Way Contract
The Lakers have formally signed undrafted Gonzaga guard Zach Norvell Jr. to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported shortly after the draft that the team would use one of its two-way slots on Norvell.
Norvell was a player viewed by many draft experts as a strong candidate to be selected last month after he left the Zags following his sophomore season. He ranked 15th on ESPN’s list of prospects who went undrafted.
The shooting guard was a top perimeter threat for the Zags in 2018/19, averaging 14.9 PPG and shooting 37.0% from outside the three-point line (2.6 makes per game).
The Lakers also have a two-way qualifying offer out to Johnathan Williams, who had a two-way deal with the club last season.