5 NBA Free Agents Who Deserve a Roster Spot
Free-agency developments around the NBA have long since slowed to a crawl. Isaac Okoro's return to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday marked the most impactful (non-extension) news in quite some time.
Training camps, roster-spot and rotation battles, and the official start of the 2024-25 regular season are now top of everyone's mind. Rightfully so, too.
But there remain a handful of free agents floating around on the open market who have no business being there much longer. We're not just talking about prospective fliers, either. These are players who, in the right context, warrant a guaranteed roster spot.
Why's that? I'm so glad you asked.
Robert Covington
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After playing in at least 70 games during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Robert Covington has totaled just 77 appearances over the past two years. Right knee complications have hindered his availability.
Even when the 33-year-old was ready to rock, though, neither the Los Angeles Clippers nor Philadelphia 76ers seemed especially inclined to use him.
There is certainly an element of "He's starting to look older than his age" at play here. At 6'7", he may be best suited these days as a small-ball 5—or a 4 man inside lineups with a primary rim protector who doesn't shrink the floor. That's just enough versatility to warrant a contract.
Above all, even as he's lost some defensive jet fuel, Covington retains his disruptor gene. Nobody has matched his steal and block rates while logging as many minutes over the past two seasons.
Expanding RoCo's role beyond an undersized big who tries to stretch defenses beyond the arc and hangs around the dunker's spot or slinks toward the basket at 45-degree angles is probably too ambitious. And even in that role, his value rests almost entirely on his lateral defensive mobility and capacity to jack up more threes on a per-minute basis.
That's far from ideal if you're in the market for a rotation mainstay. It's a different story when viewed through the lens as someone polishing off a top-10 (or even top-12) rotation.
Danilo Gallinari
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Handing guaranteed money to a 36-year-old who mustered under 50 appearances last season while spending time with three different teams seems bizarre on the surface. When it comes to Danilo Gallinari, though, context is important.
As Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes wrote:
"Gallo's most recent torn ACL cost him the entire 2022-23 season, and given his age it's fair to assume the recovery process compromised his performance in 2023-24. That's why it's important to note that in the seasons leading up to that knee injury, Gallinari was still an excellent offensive player who shot 43.3, 40.5, 40.6 and 38.1 percent from 2018-19 to 2021-22. Maybe now that he's two years into the recovery process, Gallinari will return to form as a shooter."
There's also a chance the 6'10" Italian delivers utility beyond standstill outside shooting. Even as he's slowed down and struggled, he's almost always leveraged his physicality and variable on-ball cadence and direction into opportunities at the charity stripe.
He has averaged fewer than five free-throw attempts per 36 minutes just once since 2018-19—a patently ridiculous rate from someone who's seen fewer than 16 percent of his overall shots come inside three feet during that span.
Many teams may be more inclined to roll with Jae Crowder or Bismack Biyombo. Both have actual defensive upside. But Gallinari has the highest ceiling of them all thanks to his unique blend of complementary and self-starter scoring.
Any squad with the defensive depth to use him at the 4 or as a third-string center should give him a long, hard look.
Markelle Fultz
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Left knee issues and an overall efficiency dip wound up shrinking Markelle Fultz's role with the Orlando Magic last season. The drop-off from mid-range, in particular, proved functionally fatal.
He remains a total non-threat from the outside, and Orlando's half-court offense could get gummy enough without him providing a safety net for opposing defenses.
It's nevertheless surprising that he remains unsigned so close to training camps. He is just 26 years old with the size (6'4") and length (6'9" wingspan) to guard both backcourt slots and some wings and deliver a healthy dose of disruption.
De'Anthony Melton and Dennis Smith Jr. are the only players shorter than 6'5" to match Fultz's steal and block rates over the past three seasons. The prospect of his defensive playmaking alone when deployed next to a primary wing-checker or two should be enough to earn him a look.
Anything you get from the Washington product at the other end is gravy. But his comfort navigating traffic inside the arc and getting to his mid-range pull-up can be more useful inside rotations with access to four- and five-out looks around him.
Given better spacing, Fultz might even be able to increase the frequency with which he reaches the basket.
Justin Holiday
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At a time when three-and-D archetypes are perhaps the most coveted role players of all, it verges on baffling that Justin Holiday has not found a home.
The 35-year-old isn't going to alter the course of an entire franchise, because, well, obviously. But he's a quality back-of-the-rotation option for teams light on bodies at the 2, 3 and 4 spots or in need of insurance against incumbent injury risks.
Though only 6'6"and not standout strong, Holiday has proved over the last half-decade or so that he can handle guarding up. Last year, he was one of just three players to match up against 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s on 18 percent or more of his defensive possessions across at least 800 minutes, according to BBall Index.
Versatility should not be conflated with impact. You (generally) don't want him tussling with the best-of-the-best at any position, but that's hardly an indictment of his services.
On the contrary, bagging someone who offers so much defensive optionality off the bench this late into the offseason is an opportunity on which everyone should pounce—especially when said someone is a career 40 percent sniper from beyond the arc.
Dennis Smith Jr.
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Dennis Smith Jr. has parlayed his athleticism into exhaustive defense at the point of attack. Relative to what he was always going to cost, in fact, he's the player on this list whose continued availability is most surprising.
Offensive limitations are likely the primary factor behind the 26-year-old's continued availability.
Expecting him to do basic floor-general stuff and regularly knock down threes, as a ball-handler or spot-up option, counts as overly ambitious. But the rim pressure he provides is atypical for his size and position, and he has (incrementally) leveled up his finishing over the past two seasons.
Teams with pristine spacing in the half-court can likewise leverage his downhill juice into playmaking for others. He tossed an assist last season on a somewhat staggering 15.6 percent of his drives, a top-six mark among 143 players who finished at least 300 such possessions.
Pair this with his defensive activity at the point of attack, and you've got a nifty drive-and-disrupt reserve on your hands. To that end, Jose Alvarado is the only other player over the past three seasons to maintain a steal rate of at least three and an assist percentage of 20 or higher.
So, um, yeah. Somebody sign this dude already.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Spotrac. Draft-pick obligations via RealGM.
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