Ranking NBA's Top 10 Free-Agent Destinations

The vast majority of NBA teams are capped out in terms of salary, which means this summer's free-agent class will be stuck scrutinizing a barren employer landscape.

All the more reason to provide impending free agents with advice on where to work.

For this exercise, we're focusing less on specific player/team fit and more on the objective quality of available employers. Factoring in a team's capacity to pay free agents, playing style, competitiveness (every player wants to win) and organizational perks, we'll order the few teams with spending power in an effort to help free agents make up their minds.

The pool we're drawing from isn't deep. According to The Athletic's Danny Leroux, there are nine teams with the ability to free up significant cap space (read: more than what they could pay a player using the mid-level exception, which is just under $9 million per season). All of this is subject to change based on the undetermined status of several player options, team options, cap holds and draft picks—but for now, these are the only real options available to free agents.

10-6. Warriors, Kings, Bulls, Hawks, Nets

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10. Golden State Warriors

This is a cop-out, but let's keep in mind that the lack of cap flexibility doesn't preclude every team from making a splash. If the Warriors (or Houston Rockets, or the contender of your choice) want to use a roster spot on a veteran for the minimum, all the extra perks—ideal culture, the pursuit of a ring, a limited role tailored to the free agent's strengths—can more than make up for the lack of financial compensation.

9. Sacramento Kings

Sacramento is a cool place to live, as evidenced by its status as the fastest-growing big city in California. Teamwise, the Kings have lots of youth, a beautiful new arena and plenty of cash to spend—up to $24.6 million.

The team figures to stink for a while, though, and the parties responsible for creating a messy roster that doesn't even own its 2019 first-round pick will be in place for a while. General manager Vlade Divac and head coach Dave Joerger are under contract through 2019-20.

8. Chicago Bulls

Fred Hoiberg's uptempo style finally showed up last season, and Lauri Markkanen is an intriguing cornerstone around which to build a dangerous offense. Personnel-wise, that's pretty much where the selling points stop. Zach LaVine is likely going to get a raise, and his high-volume, low-efficiency game might make it tough for an incoming free agent to thrive. This team has a long way to go.

One positive: Chicago could theoretically free up $41.5 million this summer. One negative: It definitely won't do that.

7. Atlanta Hawks

You've got to respect the full reset in Atlanta. New general manager Travis Schlenk booted Dwight Howard and his unserious approach from the locker room last summer, actually taking on longer-term money to do it. As tone-setting first steps go, that's not a bad one.

Atlanta has three first-round picks in this year's draft, oodles of cap space and a couple of exciting youngsters in Taurean Prince and John Collins. Success won't come quickly, but Atlanta's assets and approach bode well for a steady rise.

A young free agent could get in on the ground floor here.

6. Brooklyn Nets

The Nets' onerous draft obligations will finally be done after this year's draft, when the third first-rounder surrendered in that disastrous Celtics trade of 2013 is conveyed to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Soon, Brooklyn can start building on its own terms.

Add to that a three-point-heavy style that empowers players at all positions to fire away from deep, the hipster cache of living in New York and a well-liked coach in Kenny Atkinson, and you've got a great case for the Nets as a free-agent destination.

More than anything, this bunch is closer to competing than the Kings, Bulls or Hawks. Their minus-4.2 net rating in the regular season was significantly better than what any of those three teams produced.

5. Dallas Mavericks

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I mean, are you going to find another locker room with "facial recognition security at the entrance, special lighting to enhance alertness and fortified oxygenation to keep the air as clean as humanly possible"?

What about "antimicrobial lockers for each player that include details such as the Dallas skyline cut into the hangers which hold a player's jerseys"?

That's all available to you from the Dallas Mavericks, according to a report on last summer's locker-room updates from Stefan Stevenson of the Star-Telegram.

What will the Mavs add this summer? Hypnotherapy pods? Neural-fiber massages? Stress-reducing videos of basset hound puppies played on a loop?

Free agents won't want to miss out on any of that.

Nor should they look past a coach in Rick Carlisle who'll position them to succeed, regardless of experience level. Example: J.J. Barea set a career high in points per game at age 33 last year, while rookie Dennis Smith Jr. led the team in usage percentage. If you can perform, Carlisle will trust you.

Dirk Nowitzki's still around, which is cool. And the Mavs always try to make the playoffs (unless they get eliminated, at which point they purposely tank). Either way, prospective free agents get loads of perks, a professional environment and the possibility of the final few weeks off if Dallas packs it in early again.

4. Indiana Pacers

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This is mostly about Victor Oladipo, who proved himself to be the kind of star offensive fulcrum capable of making everyone else's job easier.

Maybe that's a problem for marquee free agents who'd like to be the first option with their new team, but the Pacers probably won't have the cash to get one of those anyway.

In Indy, free agents will get an up-and-coming roster with a coach in Nate McMillan who exceeded even the most optimistic expectations in 2017-18. Assuming reasonable growth from Oladipo, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, the Pacers project as a playoff team for the foreseeable future—one that was a couple of transcendent LeBron James performances away from knocking off the Cavs this postseason.

Residing in the Eastern Conference remains a bonus. As bright as the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers' futures look, the Warriors and Rockets remain entrenched as the two most dangerous squads in the league. Avoiding them until the Finals should still be a consideration for any free agent interested in a deep playoff run.

3. Utah Jazz

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The Utah Jazz play in the West, which, based on the logic we just laid out, you'd think would result in a ranking below the Pacers. Success for this team will be harder to come by with the Warriors and Rockets at the height of their powers.

But Utah has so much more to offer free agents in other areas.

First, you've got a defensive leviathan in Rudy Gobert who'll erase your mistakes. Second, Donovan Mitchell is already entrenched as the team's alpha. If you're a role player who likes performing without pressure, Mitchell's presence gives you that luxury. With up to $11.6 million available, that's the kind of player Utah will be focusing on.

Quin Snyder has arrived as a top-flight head coach, and Utah's culture is second to none. The camaraderie from their four-man postgame press conferences speaks to the collective spirit that defines this organization. Anytime you see one player zinging another on the podium, that's a good thing.

The Jazz play "advantage offense," a style that tries to get guys into spots where they've got an edge by promoting off-ball movement and crisp passing. It's an egalitarian style that makes everyone better. Just look at what Joe Ingles has become, and appreciate, too, how Mitchell was positioned to thrive.

Utah posted the league's best net rating after the All-Star break and looks poised to compete at the highest level for the next several seasons. This is a great place to be.

2. Los Angeles Lakers

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You get the weather, the massive media market, a great chance to play with another star and a promising core of young players who'll only get better.

You get a head coach in Luke Walton with the championship residue of the Warriors, surprising success after fashioning a defense with poor personnel and, despite what LaVar Ball might say, good rapport with players.

You get the Purple and Gold legacy, the promise of loads of attention and national television exposure, if you're into any of that.

You can get the max if you deserve it because the Lakers have more spending power than anyone else.

If you're Paul George, you're already basically on the team. So we don't need to pitch you. But if you're not Paul George...you get to play with Paul George! Neat!

L.A. has a lot to offer.

Magic Johnson might even give you a Starbucks franchise or a movie theater, just because.

1. Philadelphia 76ers

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There's a chance the Sixers don't deserve this spot if LeBron signs with the Lakers. That'd immediately make L.A. the best possible destination for other free agents because playing with James has been a punched ticket to the Finals for almost a decade. Throw in all the other plusses of life in Los Angeles, and the Sixers can't compete.

Putting that contingency aside, Philadelphia can't be topped.

The Sixers already have two studs in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid who work well together and basically assure a top-five defense. Robert Covington, the three-and-D wing everyone wants, is inked to a long-term deal, and the door's far from closed on Markelle Fultz becoming a star.

So if you're a free agent, all you have to do is look at how so many other quality vets slid into roles on this team and thrived. JJ Redick, Marco Belinelli, Ersan Ilyasova and Amir Johnson all made contributions as role-fillers, fitting in seamlessly and providing the necessary shooting, passing and savvy.

Free agents have to be thinking, "That could be me!"

There's a buzz around the Sixers, regardless of how the 2018 postseason will conclude. These guys arrived ahead of schedule and, after if they learn they weren't quite ready for the biggest stage, they'll come back with a vengeance next season. As hard as it might be to believe, Philly's rise has only just begun.

Any free agent interested in winning—now and for many years to come—cannot look past the Sixers. Oh, and Philadelphia can clear between $25 and $30 million this summer, which means joining this group might not even require a financial sacrifice.

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference, Cleaning the Glass or NBA.com unless otherwise specified. Salary info and cap estimates via Spotrac.

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