Ten Notable NBA Free Agents Who Remain Unsigned

All 50 of the players we identified as 2021’s top NBA free agents prior to the start of the new league year last month have come off the board, many of them within hours of the start of free agency. Nearly all the players we listed in our “honorable mention” have found new homes as well.

However, a few of those honorable mentions remain unsigned, as do a handful of other noteworthy veterans. There are many players worth mentioning, and the full list of current NBA free agents can be found right here, but today we’re singling out 10 vets who fall into three particular categories. Let’s dive in and have a look…


Shooters:

  • J.J. Redick: Redick is one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history, having converted 41.5% of his 4,704 career attempts. However, a heel injury slowed him down in 2020/21, and he has stated he’s in no rush to sign a new contract for ’21/22. When he’s ready, he’ll likely favor a team close to his home in New York, with the Nets and Knicks believed to be atop his wish list.
  • James Ennis: Ennis has been a regular NBA role player for the last several years and is coming off a season in which he converted 43.3% of his three-pointers. He has reportedly drawn interest from the Lakers, Bulls, Trail Blazers, and Magic, among other teams, and seems unlikely to remain unsigned for much longer.
  • Garrison Mathews: Mathews emerged as a rotation player for the Wizards while on a two-way contract during the last two seasons, making 38.9% of his threes in 82 total games (15.4 MPG). His solid play earned him a qualifying offer this summer, but Washington pulled that offer on the table during the first week of free agency, making Mathews an unrestricted free agent.
  • Mike Scott: A veteran stretch four, Scott had a bit of a down year in Philadelphia in 2020/21, but still has a .381 3PT% over the last four seasons, an impressive mark for a player who is also capable of battling big men in the paint. The 76ers signed Georges Niang to replace Scott, but the 33-year-old should catch on somewhere.

Offensive specialists:

  • DeMarcus Cousins: Cousins isn’t the same player who earned four All-Star berths and two All-NBA nods earlier in his career, but he wasn’t bad down the stretch with the Clippers this past season, averaging 7.8 PPG and 4.5 RPG on .537/.421/.682 shooting in 16 games (12.9 MPG). Like the other players in this group, he’s not a plus defender, but he can provide some second-unit scoring punch.
  • Jahlil Okafor: Recently waived by the Nets, who were facing a roster crunch, Okafor has played for four teams since being drafted third overall in 2015 and has seen his minutes steadily decline during that stretch. He’s still a solid inside scorer, but his lack of an outside shot limits his effectiveness on offense, and he’s not the sort of center who’s comfortable switching onto perimeter players on defense.
  • Isaiah Thomas: Like Cousins, Thomas has been limited in recent years by health issues. But he claims he’s back to full strength after being bothered by a long-term hip injury, and has worked out for teams like the Lakers and Mavericks in an effort to prove it. It’d be great to see Thomas get another shot, but his injury history and defensive shortcomings have made teams wary.

Defensive specialists:

  • Avery Bradley: Once a coveted three-and-D wing, Bradley has seen his stock dip in recent years as he has bounced around the NBA. Since being traded from Boston to Detroit in 2017, he has played for six different teams. Still, Bradley’s the sort of solid veteran that should eventually end up on a 15-man NBA roster, especially if and when teams start getting hit by the injury bug.
  • Frank Ntilikina: Defense was never a problem for the former lottery pick, but he hasn’t developed enough of an offensive game to be considered a reliable two-way player. A return to Europe could be a possibility for Ntilikina, who reportedly drew interest from Virtus Bologna before the Italian team signed Ty-Shon Alexander.
  • Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: Hollis-Jefferson had a pretty solid year in Toronto in 2019/20, showing the ability to bring energy off the bench and guard multiple positions. So it was a bit of a surprise that he didn’t get a chance to play in ’20/21 until the Blazers gave him a shot during the season’s last two months. He’s still only 26 years old — a team in need of a hard worker and tough defender could do much worse with its 14th or 15th roster spot.

And-Ones: Rule Change, Rookies, Ignite, J. Franklin

The NBA’s Board of Governors will vote later this month to approve a rule change to the way late-game out-of-bounds reviews are handled, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

In past seasons, close out-of-bounds calls have been automatically reviewed in the last two minutes of games, resulting in prolonged stoppages that have halted the momentum of close contests and dragged out the final moments of those games. If the Board of Governors approves the rule change, a head coach’s challenge will be required to trigger those reviews, says Charania.

As John Hollinger of The Athletic points out, it’s possible some close calls would be missed as a result of this change. However, some of the calls being overturned by those automatic reviews were plays where a defender clearly knocked a ball out of bounds, but it grazed the ball-handler’s fingertips last, which was a change “nobody wanted.”

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) identifies several 2021 rookies who are strong candidates to outperform their post-lottery draft positions, including Rockets big man Alperen Sengun (No. 16), Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III (No. 17), and Nuggets guard Bones Hyland (No. 26).
  • BIG3 director of basketball operations Thomas Scott, a former Lakers assistant, has joined the G League Ignite as an assistant coach on Jason Hart‘s staff, per an announcement from the BIG3 (Twitter link). Scott will also be the Ignite’s head of player development, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
  • The Chinese Basketball Association has lifted its restrictions on teams signing foreign players now that it has decided to conduct its 2021/22 season in a bubble, as Nicola Lupo of Sportando writes. Sources tell Sportando that former Grizzlies and Nuggets wing Jamaal Franklin – a second-round pick in 2013 – is one of the first players to take advantage, having signed a lucrative new deal with the Shanghai Sharks.

Atlantic Notes: Brown, Simmons, Ntilikina

Veteran journeyman wing Anthony Brown is set to work out for the Celtics this week, per Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando.

Drafted with the No. 34 selection out of Stanford in 2015 by the Lakers, Brown played sparingly for the Lakers and their NBA G League affiliate, then called the Los Angeles D-Fenders (now the South Bay Lakers). In the NBA, he later played for the Pelicans, Magic, and Timberwolves, in addition to suiting up for the NBAGL affiliates for the latter two teams.

Brown played just 41 games across three NBA seasons. He holds averages of 3.9 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 18.6 MPG. Since his last league stint during the 2017/18 NBA season, Brown has played for a variety of international clubs in Serbia, France, and Spain.

The Celtics currently have 14 players inked to guaranteed deals on their 2021/22 roster, and just one of their two-way player slots filled.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • Sixers All-Star Ben Simmons has lost a lot of his trade value following a disappointing postseason performance. In a new mailbag column, Derek Bodner of The Athletic explains that he would be open to Philadelphia team president Daryl Morey targeting draft picks as the primary return in a Simmons deal. By making this kind of move, Morey and his front office team could potentially deal for a star player beyond the caliber of the personnel teams may be making available for Simmons at present.
  • Former Knicks point guard Frank Ntilikina, the eighth draft pick in 2017, never lived up to his promise while with New York. Moke Hamilton of Basketball News examines the forces at fault for the current free agent’s underwhelming first four seasons. Then-team president Phil Jackson generally shoulders much of the blame for selecting Ntilikina in the draft ahead of Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, and Malik Monk, all lottery-caliber players drafted after the 6’4″ guard who have already proven themselves to be NBA mainstays. “[Ntilikina] obviously had the physical gifts to be an impact player in the league, but there were two or three other guys that got support because they seemed much safer,” a Knicks source told Hamilton. Hamilton also opines that the team’s lack of stability in its coaches hurt Ntilikina’s development. In four seasons, the point guard played for four different head coaches. Hamilton speculates that, should Ntilikina want to remain in the NBA this season, the 23-year-old should be able to find a team willing to take a flyer on the defensive specialist.
  • In case you missed it, new Lakers center DeAndre Jordan‘s departure from the Nets apparently became inevitable after the team retained Blake Griffin this summer, in addition to signing Paul Millsap and LaMarcus Aldridge. Promising big man Nicolas Claxton also leaped ahead of Jordan in the center rotation during the 2020/21 season.

Kenneth Faried Will Work Out For Lakers

The Lakers are set to take a look at free agent veteran forward Kenneth Faried in a workout this week, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Faried, 31, was selected by the Nuggets with the No. 22 pick out of Morehead State University in the 2011 draft. An All-Rookie First Teamer, Faried would go on to spend his first seven NBA seasons in Denver as a valuable, versatile rotation player.

The athletic big man split his final league season to date, 2018/19, between the Nets and Rockets. After being unable to carve out much of a role as a reserve small ball center for Brooklyn, the 6’8″ Faried was waived by the Nets in January of 2019. He then joined the Rockets to conclude the year. Faried averaged 12.9 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 0.8 BPG across 25 games with a playoff-bound Houston team.

Faried linked up with the Zhejiang Lions, a CBA club, for the 2019/20 season. Most recently, Faried played for the Trail Blazers’ 2021 Summer League squad, in the hopes of gaining traction for an NBA comeback. With the Lakers now expressing interest, Faried may get that chance on a roster loaded with other veterans in their 30s hoping for championship glory.

The new-look Lakers have 13 players signed to guaranteed contracts thus far, two players on Exhibit 10 training camp deals, and both of their two-way contract slots occupied. If he’s anything like his Nuggets self, Faried could help shore up the club’s big man depth.

NBA Still Considering Possible Mid-Season Tournament

The NBA continues to consider a possible mid-season tournament, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The concept was addressed in a Competition Committee group call today.

Charania adds that a wrinkle designed to incentivize player interest is a $1MM prize for each player on the winning club. Obviously, for a maximum-salaried veteran, $1MM isn’t a huge incentive, but for players at the end of the roster, it would represent a significant sum.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been contemplating a mid-season tournament for years now. In a 2019 conversation with Marc Stein of the New York Times (now with Substack), Silver explained his thinking behind the concept.

“In the case of European soccer, I think there is something we can learn from them,” Silver told Stein in 2019. “I also recognize I’m up against some of the traditionalists who say no one will care about that other competition, that other trophy, you create. And my response to that is, ‘Organizations have the ability to create new traditions.’ It won’t happen overnight.”

The other change to league play that had been bandied about at the time was a play-in tournament, to expand postseason eligibility for teams, get late-year engagement from additional fanbases, and disincentivize tanking.

After being initially introduced during the league’s Orlando restart “bubble” to conclude the 2019/20 season, the play-in tournament was revised for the 2020/21 season. It proved a hit with fans, and looks to remain a part of the NBA for years to come. No doubt the league is hoping for similar success and increased eyeballs with a mid-season tournament.

Derrick Alston Jr. Signs Training Camp Deal With Jazz

5:27pm: The Jazz have confirmed the signing of Alston via a press release.


5:04pm: Former Boise State wing Derrick Alston Jr. is signing a training camp deal with the Jazz, reports Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).

The 6’9″ swingman averaged 17.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.2 APG across 32 games, all starts, during his final collegiate season with the Broncos in 2020/21. He also posted shooting splits of .444/.382/.856.

Alston, 23, went undrafted in 2021. He was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team in 2020 and the All-Mountain West First Team in 2021.

Further details of the contract have yet to be released, but it is most likely an Exhibit 10 agreement.  As of this writing, the Jazz have 13 guaranteed contracts ahead of training camp and one of their two-way slots available. There are thus a few avenues through which Alston could latch on with the club.

2021/22 NBA Over/Unders: Atlantic Division

The 2021/22 NBA regular season will get underway next month, so it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and to resume an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.

With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

In 2020/21, our voters went 17-13 on their over/under picks. Can you top that in ’21/22?

As a reminder, the NBA played a 72-game schedule in 2020/21, so a team that won 41 games last year finished with a 41-31 record. This year, a club that wins 41 games would be a .500 team (41-41). For added clarity, we’ve noted the record that each team would have to achieve to finish “over” its projected win total.

We’ll kick things off today with the Atlantic division…


Brooklyn Nets

How many games will the Nets win in 2021/22?

  • Over 55.5 63% (476)
  • Under 55.5 37% (277)

Total votes: 753

Trade Rumors app users, click here for Nets poll.


Philadelphia 76ers

How many games will the Sixers win in 2021/22?

  • Under 51.5 70% (536)
  • Over 51.5 30% (230)

Total votes: 766

Trade Rumors app users, click here for Sixers poll.


Boston Celtics

How many games will the Celtics win in 2021/22?

  • Over 46.5 58% (505)
  • Under 46.5 42% (365)

Total votes: 870

Trade Rumors app users, click here for Celtics poll.


New York Knicks

How many games will the Knicks win in 2021/22?

  • Over 42.5 65% (527)
  • Under 42.5 35% (282)

Total votes: 809

Trade Rumors app users, click here for Knicks poll.


Toronto Raptors

How many games will the Raptors win in 2021/22?

  • Under 36.5 51% (410)
  • Over 36.5 49% (400)

Total votes: 810

Trade Rumors app users, click here for Raptors poll.

Grizzlies Notes: Bane, Offseason, Adams, Celtics Trade

Grizzlies sharpshooter Desmond Bane officially has new representation. After leaving Seth Cohen of SAC Sports Family earlier this offseason, Bane has signed with agent Jim Tanner of Tandem Sports + Entertainment/YouFirst, according to the agency’s Instagram.

Bane’s new agent won’t have to negotiate a second contract for him for a while yet. Having just been drafted in 2020, Bane is entering the second season of his four-year rookie contract, and won’t be eligible for a rookie scale extension until the 2023 offseason. If he doesn’t sign a new deal that year, he’d reach restricted free agency in 2024.

Here’s more on the Grizzlies:

  • In his look back at the Grizzlies’ offseason, Zach Harper of The Athletic assigns the team a grade of B-minus. Harper acknowledges that the team didn’t really upgrade its roster, but notes that Memphis’ young players have room to continue improving, and the club is well-positioned to keep building for the future.
  • Within Harper’s recap, John Hollinger of The Athletic says Steven Adams won’t have a bigger overall impact than Jonas Valanciunas, but suggests the team is hoping Adams can improve the team’s pick-and-roll defense. While Adams isn’t super-versatile, he’s a bit more capable of switching than Valanciunas and may be better suited to stay on the floor in fourth quarters, in Hollinger’s view.
  • Memphis’ trade agreement that will send Juan Hernangomez to Boston in exchange for Kris Dunn, Carsen Edwards, and a second-round pick swap should be completed this week. Dunn’s aggregation restriction will lift on Wednesday, at which point the Grizzlies and Celtics will be free to move forward with their deal.
  • The Grizzlies are in position to end up with three first-round picks in the 2022 draft, as we detailed earlier today.

Traded First-Round Picks For 2022 NBA Draft

The 2022 NBA draft is still over nine months away, but a number of teams have already traded away their first-round picks for ’22, and more clubs may do so before this season’s trade deadline.

We’ll use the space below to keep tabs on each team’s first round pick for 2022, continually updating it as necessary throughout the year.

We’ve listed all 30 teams here, so even if a team hasn’t traded its first-round pick, that will be noted. We’ll also provide details on the protections for each traded pick, including what happens to the pick in 2023 if it doesn’t change hands in 2022.

Here’s the full breakdown on the status of each 2022 first round pick:


Atlantic

  • Boston Celtics: Traded to Spurs (top-four protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Celtics would owe the Spurs their 2023 first-round pick (top-four protected).
  • Brooklyn Nets: Traded to Rockets or Heat.
    • Houston will receive the two most favorable picks of the Nets’, Heat’s, and Rockets’ first-rounders; Miami will receive the least favorable of the three, unless the Heat’s pick is in the top 14, in which case it would be protected and Houston would receive the Nets’ first-rounder and their own first-rounder.
  • New York Knicks: Own pick.
  • Philadelphia 76ers: Traded to Nets.
    • The Nets have the option to defer this traded pick to 2023.
  • Toronto Raptors: Traded to Spurs (top-14 protected).

Central

  • Chicago Bulls: Own pick.
  • Cleveland Cavaliers: Traded to Pacers (top-14 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Cavaliers would owe the Pacers their 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
  • Detroit Pistons: Traded to Thunder (top-16 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Pistons would owe the Thunder their 2023 first-round pick (top-18 protected).
  • Indiana Pacers: Own pick.
  • Milwaukee Bucks: Own pick.

Southeast

  • Atlanta Hawks: Own pick.
  • Charlotte Hornets: Traded to Hawks (top-18 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Hornets would owe the Hawks their 2023 first-round pick (top-16 protected).
  • Miami Heat: Own pick or Rockets‘ pick or Nets‘ pick.
    • Houston will receive the two most favorable picks of the Nets’, Heat’s, and Rockets’ first-rounders; Miami will receive the least favorable of the three, unless the Heat’s pick is in the top 14, in which case it would be protected and Houston would receive the Nets’ first-rounder and their own first-rounder.
    • If the Heat keep their own first-round pick, they would instead send the Rockets a 2022 second-round pick (Denver’s or Philadelphia’s, whichever is least favorable).
  • Orlando Magic: Own pick.
  • Washington Wizards: Own pick.

Northwest

  • Denver Nuggets: Own pick.
  • Minnesota Timberwolves: Own pick.
  • Oklahoma City Thunder: Traded to Hawks (top-14 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Thunder would instead send their own 2024 and 2025 second-round picks to Atlanta.
  • Portland Trail Blazers: Traded to Bulls (top-14 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Blazers would owe the Bulls their 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
  • Utah Jazz: Traded to Grizzlies (top-6 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Jazz would owe the Grizzlies their 2023 first-round pick (top-3 protected).

Pacific

  • Golden State Warriors: Own pick.
  • Los Angeles Clippers: Traded to Thunder.
  • Los Angeles Lakers: Traded to Pelicans or Grizzlies.
    • New Orleans will receive this pick if it lands in the top 10; Memphis will receive it if it falls between 11-30.
    • If the Pelicans get the pick, they’ll send the Grizzlies two future second-round picks (Cleveland’s 2022 second-rounder and New Orleans’ own 2025 second-rounder). If the Grizzlies get the pick, the Pelicans won’t get anything.
  • Phoenix Suns: Traded to Thunder (top-12 protected).
    • If this pick lands in its protected range, the Suns would owe the Thunder their 2023 first-round pick (top-10 protected).
  • Sacramento Kings: Own pick.

Southwest

  • Dallas Mavericks: Own pick.
  • Houston Rockets: Own pick.
  • Memphis Grizzlies: Own pick.
  • New Orleans Pelicans: Traded to Trail Blazers (top-four protected) or Hornets (top-14 protected).
    • New Orleans will keep this pick if it lands in the top four; Portland will receive it if it falls between 5-14; Charlotte will receive it if it falls between 15-30.
    • If this pick lands in the top four or between 15-30, the Pelicans would owe the Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick (top-four protected) to Portland.
    • If this pick lands in the top 14, the Pelicans would instead send their own 2022 and 2024 second-round picks to Charlotte.
  • San Antonio Spurs: Own pick.

Information from RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

G League’s Mexico City Team To Play In U.S. In 2021/22

As expected, the Mexico City Capitanes will indeed be joining the NBA G League for the 2021/22 season, but they won’t be playing their home games in Mexico, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As Charania explains, ongoing restrictions on international travel related to the coronavirus will prevent the Capitanes from playing in Mexico City in ’21/22. The Raptors found themselves in a similar situation last season, forced to play their home games in Tampa instead of Toronto due to the governmental rules on travel between the U.S. and Canada.

The Capitanes will be based in Fort Worth, Texas for practice and housing purposes in 2021/22, according to Marc Stein of Substack (Twitter link). League sources tell Stein that the team will play all its games in “existing league markets.”

It’s unclear if that means the Capitanes will simply play all their games at their opponent’s arenas, or if they’ll host their home games at nearby arenas if and when they’re available. The Texas Legends (Frisco), Austin Spurs (Austin), and Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Edinburg) are among the other NBAGL teams based in Texas. The Oklahoma City Blue’s home arena also isn’t too far from Fort Worth.

The NBA has yet to formally confirm its plans for the Mexico City Capitanes in 2021/22, but with the G League season inching closer, an official announcement should be coming soon and should provide more clarity on where the club’s home games will take place.

The addition of the Capitanes to the G League for the 2021/22 season means the NBAGL will have 30 teams for the first time — 28 of them are affiliated with NBA clubs. We provided more info on those affiliations last week.