5 Bargain-Bin Free Agents Who Could Help Every NBA Team
Bargain-bin shopping is more important than ever to NBA teams in the Era of Aprons.
Cap space is scarce, and identifying non-stars worth the bigger mid-level exception of $15 million gets harder when weighed against hard-capping your payroll against the first apron.
The hunt for cost-controlled contributors is only fiercer among contenders and more expensive squads that are toeing tight financial lines and can't even guarantee themselves access to the smaller $6.1 million MLE.
While the free-agency pool doesn't offer promo codes for front offices to use, it is always peppered with names who provide plenty of bang for their buck. Not all bargains are priced equally, but for our purposes, we're limiting the scope to players who should be gettable for the $6.1 million MLE or less.
To keep things fresh, we will not be including the five names thrust under the spotlight last time around. That disqualifies Marcus Smart (player option), Landry Shamet, De'Anthony Melton (player option), Dean Wade and Sandro Mamukelashvili (player option).
Even with them off the board, though, it's not hard to find five other free agents virtually every team should have their eyes on.
Keon Ellis
1 of 5
Status: Unrestricted
2025-26 Salary: $1.7 million
2025-26 Stats: 6.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.2 steals
Keon Ellis wasn't a huge part of the Cleveland Cavaliers' playoff rotation, which could raise some red flags. Ultimately, though, it says just as much about the team's oversaturation of non-wings and small guards.
Slotting Ellis into a starting 2-guard spot is not an overreach of his skill set. He won't run the offense as a ball-handler, but he can usually check any backcourt initiators who don't spill into power-wing territory. Even then, we have seen his teams throw him at bigger bodies, including Luka Dončić, when in a pinch.
Offensive consistency remains the 26-year-old's biggest issue. His career 40.7 percent clip from beyond the arc is coming on a ho-hum six attempts per 36 minutes. He can be hesitant to fire away quickly enough and is even more reluctant to put the ball on the floor and attack closeouts.
Working around those limitations is an annoyance if your rotation is teeming with aggressive guards or you're paying Ellis $10-plus million per year. When he's making south of $6 million, he's a plug-and-play talent worth betting on.
Javonte Green
2 of 5
Status: Unrestricted
2025-26 Salary: $2.3 million
2025-26 Stats: 5.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.0 steals
Javonte Green has floated around the NBA's bargain bin for nearly a decade. Through seven seasons in the Association, he has never graduated from the minimum-contract ranks.
Shaking shooting and injury concerns supposedly explain why. If they ever did, they do not anymore.
Green has appeared in at least 68 games during each of the last seasons. The three-point touch isn't what you'd call lethal, but he's downing 36.1 percent of his triples since 2021-22. He's also shooting 59.3 percent on twos for his career.
We needn't pretend this efficiency comes on high volume. The 10.3 field-goal attempts per 36 minutes he averaged this past season were the second highest of his career.
Still, any offense he provides is ancillary. His defensive versatility is the meat and potatoes of his value. Standing 6'5", with a seven-foot wingspan, he plays with the length, strength and aggression required to shimmy across four different positions.
History suggests Green will sign for south of the mini mid-level. Though he turns 33 in July, this is borderline bonkers for someone who isn't a total spacing liability, can still power down some dunks and will split time defending everyone from point guards to power forwards.
Jordan Goodwin
3 of 5
Status: Unrestricted
2025-26 Salary: $2.3 million
2025-26 Stats: 8.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 steals
Smaller guards who shouldn't run the offense tend to be complicated fits. Jordan Goodwin streamlines the integration with exhaustive defense that belies his size. He is most effective harassing traditionally sized guards but no stranger to making life difficult for the Cade Cunninghams, Cooper Flaggs and Amen Thompsons of the world.
Goodwin ranked in the 90th percentile or better in screen navigation, perimeter isolation defense and matchup difficulty, according to BBall Index. The only players to do the same in as many minutes while covering a wider range of positions were Lu Dort, Jaden McDaniels and Herb Jones.
At the other end, Goodwin makes up for his lack of on-ball versatility with general movement and a nose for grabbing his team's misses. He has never ranked lower than the 97th percentile in offensive rebounding relative to his position.
And though overall limitations as a scorer will continue to repress his sticker price, the 38 percent he shot on above-the-break threes this year, offers a clear path to him sticking inside a playoff rotation.
.png?w=256)
Tim Hardaway Jr.
4 of 5
Status: Unrestricted
2025-26 Salary: $3.6 million
2025-26 Stats: 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.5 steals
Tim Hardaway Jr. has never met a jump shot he doesn't like. That universal love for getting 'em up can be maddening, but his short-term memory is mostly an offensive feature.
Inherent streakiness and all, THJ is downing 37.9 percent of his three-balls over the past seven seasons on over seven attempts per game. Only four other players have done the same while converting as many triples: Stephen Curry, Buddy Hield, CJ McCollum and Duncan Robinson.
Now 34, Hardaway's strengths have shown they're aging quite well. He ran the floor hard during his only season with the Denver Nuggets, and while spot-up jumpers remain his bread-and-butter, he has ample one-or-two-dribble juice left in the tank.
After finishing third in Sixth Man of the Year voting, Hardaway could price himself out of the mini-MLE-or-less ranks. At the same time, the spotty defense, lack of rebounding and one-note positionality should prevent him from receiving too much of a raise.
Contenders everywhere in need of floor-spacing infusions should be thrilled.
Gary Trent Jr.
5 of 5
Status: Player option
2025-26 Salary: $3.7 million
2025-26 Stats: 8.1 points. 1.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.5 steals
Turning in perhaps the worst season of his career for a Milwaukee Bucks team pining after any semblance of consistency doesn't reflect kindly on Gary Trent Jr. Then again, it doesn't sound like now-former head coach Doc Rivers or superstar-with-1.5-feet-out-the-door Giannis Antetokounmpo were championing the best culture.
That's grounds for tossing away some of GTJ's choppiness.
The crux of his game remains. He isn't afraid to get up threes and makes them at a high enough clip to keep defenses honest. Even in a down year, he drilled 38.6 percent of his catch-and-fire triples. He also graded out as an above-average scorer on the break for the third time in four years and can create his own transition opportunities with teleportations into passing lanes.
Granted, all of GTJ's previous flaws endure. He gambles on defense and didn't have the steal rate to justify it this past season. His rebounding is nonexistent. He gets tunnel vision on his drives without the efficiency to back it up. His off-the-dribble jump-shooting runs something like hot-cold-cold-hot-cold-cold-cold.
None of which is concerning enough for Trent, still just 27, to pick up his $3.9 million player option. And with the Bucks tracking toward an overhaul, the idea they'll inflate his value using Early Bird rights no longer looms as a likely threat—which is terrific news for the rest of the market.
Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Biggest NFL Draft Steals 🤫")
