NBA Free Agents 2015: Rumors, Predictions for J.R. Smith, Jason Terry and More

The news of Ty Lawson's trade to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, broken by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, provided some brief excitement in a dull portion of the NBA offseason.

For teams looking at free agents, though, it's slim pickings at this point. A few of the remaining players may be solid rotation members in 2015-16, but it's mostly projects or just end-of-the-bench guys who'll play a few minutes here and there.

Let's look at three of the biggest names still on the market and predict where they'll go and how much their contracts will be worth.

J.R. Smith

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Pride comes before a fall, as the proverb goes, and J.R. Smith appears to be learning that lesson firsthand this summer.

Smith decided to opt out of his player option that would have earned him approximately $6.4 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers next season, per Spotrac. He presumably thought he could get more money as a free agent.

Apparently, he didn't realize his original salary was actually above the going rate for streaky 29-year-old reserve shooting guards.

Now, the Cavaliers want Smith back, but on a one-year deal, according to the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto. Cleveland will, of course, try to bring the price tag down as low as possible. With all the big contracts the team has signed (and will sign, with Tristan Thompson) this summer, the Cavs will be well over the luxury tax threshold in 2015-16.

Will Smith swallow his pride and ink a smaller deal with Cleveland? Or will he look for more money elsewhere? The problem is, he'll probably have a difficult time finding a team that has the cap space and is willing to take him for more than $6.4 million per year.

Prediction: Smith signs a one-year deal with Cleveland in the $3 million-$4 million range

Jason Terry

As Wojnarowski first reported, Lawson was traded from the Nuggets to the Rockets on Sunday. You'd think that would actually make free-agent point guard Jason Terry more expendable for Houston—until you notice what the Rockets gave up to get Lawson:

Pablo Prigioni played 16.8 and 17.2 minutes per game with Houston in the regular season and playoffs, respectively, and his role will need to be replaced. Nick Johnson got spot minutes at both guard spots, but that's still some playing time that needs to get soaked up.

Naturally, ESPN's Marc Stein reported that the chances Houston re-signs Terry increased with the trade for Lawson:

The 37-year-old point guard is mostly just a spot-up shooter on offense at this point in his career, and his defense is slipping, but he's still a valuable addition to any locker room. If he's cheap, the Rockets should definitely bring him back as their No. 3 floor general after Lawson and Patrick Beverley.

Prediction: Terry signs a two-year deal with Houston at the veteran's minimum, with a player option for the second year

Chris Copeland

Chris Copeland had a major down year from three-point range (31.1 percent on 167 attempts) in 2014-15. Unfortunately, long-range shooting is his only above-average skill, so he wasn't worth much last year.

However, his shot is still super pretty and he never really got consistent minutes once January hit, so the hope is he can turn things around for his new team.

Which team will the free-agent small forward sign with? Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times has the scoop:

The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers had also shown interest in him early last week, per Sportando.

Los Angeles signed Josh Smith on Thursday and looks set off the bench now, so it's looking like the team should be taken out of the equation at this point. The Spurs' Kyle Anderson won the Las Vegas Summer League MVP award Sunday, according to Fox Sports' Sam Amico, and has a bunch of potential, so San Antonio looks set at backup small forward.

That leaves the Bucks, who aren't great from three-point range. Jared Dudley left for the Washington Wizards, and Copeland would be an OK replacement for him off the bench.

Prediction: Copeland signs a two-year deal with Milwaukee worth a total of around $5.8 million (the room exception)

All statistics and measurements are from Basketball-Reference.com, NBA.com and ESPN.com (including ESPN's Hollinger Stats) and are updated through July 20 unless otherwise indicated.

Follow @jaredtjohnson21