NBA Free Agency 2012: Players Whose Teams Can't Afford to Let Them Walk

The departure of a key player through free agency can be debilitating to the future of a team. 

Most notably, when LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers, the franchise was sent into a tailspin that it has not yet straightened itself out of.

There aren't any pending free agents whose prospective departure will have the impact that James' did on their respective teams, but there are plenty of players who are crucial to the future success of their possibly former teams.

Here are three players whose teams can't afford to let them walk.

New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin

This one is the most obvious on the list. Jeremy Lin turned the Knicks' season around, saved Mike D'Antoni's job for a couple of weeks and shocked the world with the show he put on at Madison Square Garden.

If Lin leaves, the Knicks are left with one of the biggest point-guard dilemmas in recent memory.

They don't have a single quality point guard on their current roster. Mike Bibby's corpse isn't going to cut it for a full season. Baron Davis' knee exploded right before our very eyes against the Miami Heat. Toney Douglas is Toney Douglas and hasn't proved that he can run any type of offense.

Lin certainly has some work to do, but he's the best point guard that the Knicks currently have on their roster. The free-agent wire, with the exception of Steve Nash, is pretty low on point guards who you would trust to run an offense effectively.

If the Knicks can't retain Lin, they'll go from a favorite to finish at the No. 4 or No. 5 spot to fighting for a playoff berth.

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert

The Pacers are in big trouble if they can't find a way to bring Roy Hibbert back. They don't have much in terms of big men, and Hibbert is widely regarded as one of the only true centers in the NBA.

He averaged 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game last season and established himself as a vital piece to the Pacers' success when he went off for 19 points and 18 rebounds in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami Heat.

The Pacers are set with Danny Granger, Paul George and David West, but if they let Hibbert go, they're going to get hammered by teams with big men.

Hibbert was one of the main reasons why the Pacers finished No. 3 in the Eastern Conference. Most teams don't have true centers who can shut Hibbert down. If the Pacers lose Hibbert, they lose a huge advantage.

New Orleans Hornets, Eric Gordon

This may be out of the Hornets' control, but they need to do everything they can to keep Gordon in New Orleans. He's a prime shooting guard and one of the brightest young stars in the league—not to mention keeping him on the roster would mean that they wouldn't have to draft a shooting guard at No. 10.

Gordon's departure would be easy to make up for by picking Austin Rivers with the 10th pick in the draft, but if Gordon stays, the Hornets could draft Kendall Marshall to run the point for the foreseeable future.

Keeping Gordon on the Hornets isn't crucial to the team's future, but it would set them up a whole lot better for the future if he hangs around.

Imagine this starting five: Marshall at the point, Gordon at the 2, Al-Farouq Aminu at the 3, Anthony Davis at the 4 or 5 and whoever the Hornets can scrape up to be their other big man.

They cleared plenty of cap space by trading Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor to the Washington Wizards for Rashard Lewis, so there's no reason this can't happen.