Free agency is not the headline event it once was in the NBA, as a large portion of the top players on the market tend to extend, like Luka Doncic did last weekend with the Lakers, or move in trades rather than signing with new teams. However, there are still likely to be talented players available and ready to contribute to new situations, as Zach Harper details for The Athletic.
Teams like the Lakers, Clippers, and Heat have made an effort to keep their flexibility for next year, write Tim Bontemps and Kevin Pelton for ESPN. However, those teams are also expected to try to maintain cap space for 2027, a summer in which multiple MVPs – Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic – could potentially reach the market, though of course neither is guaranteed to be available.
The Celtics will also likely look to retool their roster next summer after trading away key contributors in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis for salary cap relief, as they seek to rebuild their roster into a contender around Tatum once he has recovered from his Achilles tear.
Trae Young, with a $48.9MM player option for the 2026/27 season, has the potential to be one of the top names on the board, and while Harper expresses confidence that an extension with the Hawks will get done, there have been rumors that it’s far from a certainty, and that next season could serve as an evaluation period for the Hawks’ core under a new head of basketball operations.
Other high-end veterans with player options for ’26/27 include James Harden (Clippers), Zach LaVine (Kings), Draymond Green (Warriors), Austin Reaves (Lakers), Andrew Wiggins (Heat), Fred VanVleet (Rockets), and Bradley Beal (Clippers). Harper considers Harden, Green, and Reaves very likely to remain with their current teams, and VanVleet also relatively likely to stay, though the Rockets have some level of flexibility in regard to the future of their roster.
Then there are the unrestricted free agents. As of this moment, LeBron James (Lakers) and Kevin Durant (Rockets) represent the cream of the crop, but there are other talented players such as Porzingis (Hawks), Anfernee Simons (Celtics), Coby White (Bulls), and others who are sure to garner suitors.
For what it’s worth, Durant has been widely expected to extend with Houston, but James is ineligible to be extended prior to free agency and White’s salary is so modest relative to his value that he’s considered likely to wait until he can get a bigger payday on the free agent market.
One interesting inflection point will be players on team options, such as Isaiah Hartenstein and Luguentz Dort on the Thunder, and Bogdan Bogdanovic and Brook Lopez on the Clippers. The Thunder, particularly, could have some tough decisions to make on their role players soon as lucrative extensions take effect for stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams.
Andrew Wiggins does not play for the Warriors.
Sadly =/
This post is a mess lol.. 1) Wiggins plays for the Heat not the Warriors 2) James Harden can’t both be a “likely” and “relatively likely” to stay in back to back sentences… just silly mistakes there guys
glad to see it was edited properly… but silly to let obvious mistakes / typo’s get published
Ease off Hemingway.
Hemingway was a journalist? lol
“Ernest Miller Hemingway was a 20th century American author, journalist, and short-story writer.”
–wikipedia
Eli this is like the third embarrassingly bad post in 5 days. Do you not care or not get it?
Maybe Eli is just trolling us. Trying to trigger our “i’m right and this idiot is wrong’ response
Lmao Giannis and Jokic hitting the open market. Nobody worth a grain of salt is hitting the market with todays CBA. actually, now I think about it. Surely both could end up on the Warriors or Lakers roster, lol.
Coby whites pic looks like a troll doll
Really going for it there. I bet you dress up as your fav confederate general for Halloween each year. So many good ones to pick from!
Seethe
Wrt “Durant has been widely expected to extend with Houston”, is there a deadline that applies for an extension at some date?
Veterans on expiring deals who are extension-eligible remain eligible all season, so Durant could leave it as late as June 30, 2026 if he wants to.
Bulls need 90% of those players…