Ranking the Top 7 Cheap NBA Free Agents Still Available
While the NBA is waiting on free-agency decisions from LeBron James, Draymond Green, James Harden, Jalen Duren, Peyton Watson and more, a handful of potential bargains continue to float around the open market just begging to be scooped up.
Since "cheap" is a relative term, we will define it for our purposes as any player who could realistically accept a salary worth less than the $6.1 million mini mid-level exception. Everyone who makes the cut must also, in theory, be capable of filling at least 15 minutes per game in a rotation.
Special cases will be exempted so that the focus stays on players with broader markets. Perhaps Draymond Green signs for less than $6.1 million to facilitate other moves. The list of squads for which he'd do that maxes out at one: The Golden State Warriors.
7. Jordan Clarkson
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Age: 34
2025-26 Stats: 8.6 PTS, 1.8 REB, 1.3 AST, 0.4 STL
2025-26 Salary: $3.6 million
Known predominantly as an inefficient microwave scorer for much of his career, Jordan Clarkson reinvented himself en route to winning a title with the New York Knicks.
Questionable shot selection can remain, but it's accompanied by more defensive engagement and, most notably, a presence on the offensive glass. Clarkson grabbed 7.1 percent of New York's misses when on the floor after the All-Star break. Among every player standing under 6'7" who played as much during that span, only Gary Payton II posted a higher offensive rebounding rate.
Clarkson's commitment to crashing the boards also translated to a more interesting shot profile. Around 24 percent of his looks last season came at the rim. That's the highest share he's posted since 2019-20.
Entering his mid-30s, with shaky touch from beyond the arc, Clarkson isn't an every-matchup guy. But his evolution on the Knicks fits the league's hyper-focus on winning the possession battle.
6. Bruce Brown Jr.
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Age: 29
2025-26 Stats: 7.9 PTS, 3.9 REB, 2.1 AST, 1.0 STL
2025-26 Salary: $3.1 million
Bruce Brown Jr. no longer profiles as a glittery defender and Sixth Man of the Year candidate, but he still has the juice of a medium-rent gap-filler.
Buying into his 38.5 percent clip from deep last season is tough. He's a career 34.4 percent marksman from behind the rainbow who's eclipsed 35 percent for an entire year just three times. But if his outlier showing in 2025-26 isn't proof of evolution, it at least shows what can happen when he traffics in mostly unguarded attempts.
None of Brown's other connective skills are a mirage. He keeps the ball moving; can reach the basket on or off the rock; knows how to cut and relocate in the half-court; keeps defenses guessing from short-roll territory; and is someone who can be moved up or down the positional spectrum if he's coming off the bench.
5. Brandon Williams
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Age: 26
2025-26 Stats: 13.1 PTS, 2.9 REB, 3.9 AST, 0.9 STL
2025-26 Salary: $2.3 million
Guards who can get both feet in the paint outside of transition aren't easy to find. Fortunately for clearance-rack shoppers, Brandon Williams is sitting right here.
Nearly half of the 6'2" guard's shot attempts came at the rim last season while ferrying a higher-volume role for the Dallas Mavericks. The frequency with which he reached the hoop in the half-court, specifically, placed inside the 86th percentile.
Williams isn't the most efficient finisher in these situations. But you can live with 64 percent shooting around the rim when it's complemented by attacks from all angles and at varying speeds.
He ended up converting 51.8 percent of his looks off drives while drawing fouls 11.1 percent of the time. The only other players to do the same on 10-plus downhill attacks per game were Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Dončić, Anthony Edwards, Austin Reaves, Zion Williamson, Julius Randle and Jimmy Butler.
A distinct lack of size hurts Williams on the defensive end. His three-point shot has also proven to be a non-starter, and even out of drives, he's not the most reliable passer. But a 49.1 percent clip on long twos the past two years (28-of-57) coupled with reasonable free-throw shooting suggests there could be more levels to his scoring arsenal.
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4. Ziaire Williams
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Age: 24
2025-26 Stats: 10.2 PTS, 2.4 REB, 1.1 AST, 1.4 STL
2025-26 Salary: $6.3 million
Ziaire Williams' impact will never live up to his physical profile. He doesn't rebound like someone who stands 6'9" and has seldom looked explosive enough on the ball.
Still, during his two years with the Brooklyn Nets, he routinely tackled one of the opposing team's two toughest assignments while peaking as a defensive playmaker. Since 2024-25, the only non-centers to match or exceed his steal (2.4) and block (1.9) rates in as many minutes are Keon Ellis, Tari Eason and Ausar Thompson.
Offensive consistency poses more of a problem for the 24-year-old, but he's made strides here, too. Though his 34.2 percent clip from distance in Brooklyn isn't turning any heads, it did come on over seven attempts per 36 minutes.
Despite not finishing particularly well out of drives, Williams does look more under control dribbling in tight spaces. He cut out a lot of in-between junk with the Nets, and added layers of patience on the ball resulted in more trips to the charity stripe.
Among 241 players to finish at least 150 drives last season, Williams ranked eighth in the rate at which he drew fouls. Around 17.3 percent of his transition possessions also ended in free throws, a mark right in line with Jaylen Brown (17.2) and Austin Reaves (17.2).
3. Gary Payton II
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Age: 33
2025-26 Stats: 7.5 PTS, 3.6 REB, 1.7 AST, 0.9 STL
2025-26 Salary: $3.3 million
Gary Payton II has a strong case to climb up this ladder if you can guarantee he'll be available. You can't. Last season was just the second time for his career he eclipsed 1,000 total minutes—and the first since 2021-22.
The defensive utility he provides is enough to overlook scattershot usage. Especially when he's a minimum-contract candidate.
Standing 6'3", he can capably tussle with 1s, 2s and 3s and is no stranger to soaking up spot reps against bigger forwards who leverage the threat of outside shooting. Through and through, he is one of the league's better off-ball disruptors to boot.
Since 2022-23, Payton has placed no lower than the 79th percentile relative to his position in the rate at which he racks up steals, blocks, offensive rebounds and defensive boards. Tack on his efficient scoring around the bucket, and he's a dream signing in miniature for any contender looking to improve their ability to win the possession battle.
2. Gary Trent Jr.
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Age: 27
2025-26 Stats: 8.1 PTS, 1.0 REB, 1.2 AST, 0.5 STL
2025-26 Salary: $3.7 million
Pure shooting guards don't hold as much appeal these days. Gary Trent Jr.'s value is also severely complicated by a down-bad 2025-26 campaign.
At the same time, the degree to which he's a one-position player gets overstated. He can—and is—deployed as a wing more often than players like Anfernee Simons or even Bennedict Mathurin.
Granted, most of Trent's defensive value is rooted in creating chaos away from the ball. He didn't do that nearly as well last year, and his approach is high-risk, high-reward even when it's working.
It still makes sense to bet on a 27-year-old's longer-standing track record. Before last season, the best version of Trent saw him down a ton of threes and break up possessions at the less glamorous end.
Over the past five years, in fact, he has rated in the 70th percentile or better of passing lane defense and catch-and-shoot three-point shot-making while logging more than 1,500 minutes four times, according to BBall Index. The only other players who can say the same: OG Anunoby, Mike Conley, Nikola Jokić, Donovan Mitchell, Donte DiVincenzo and Fred VanVleet.
1. Matisse Thybulle
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Age: 29
2025-26 Stats: 5.8 PTS, 2.8 REB, 0.9 AST, 2.0 STL
2025-26 Salary: $11.6 million
Concerns over Matisse Thybulle's availability and offensive limitations contribute to him remaining unsigned. One of them is overblown.
While Thybulle appeared in just 45 combined regular-season games over the past two seasons, he finished with 65-plus cameos in each of the five prior campaigns. Two of those 65-plus years came amid shortened seasons. He also closed 2025-26 appearing in 31 of the Portland Trail Blazers' final 32 games.
Overlooking the offensive limitations is harder. Thybulle doesn't deviate from a boxed-in job description, but even downing wide-open standstill three-pointers is a challenge.
Knocking down 41.1 percent of his triples over the past two years hasn't changed the way defenses guard him. And this efficiency didn't translate to Portland's first-round matchup with the San Antonio Spurs, in which Thybulle went 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.
The defensive consistency and disruption is ultimately worth the offensive baggage. Thybulle has dominated the turnovers-forced game while sponging up difficult on-ball assignments. His 3.8 steal rate since entering the league leads all players who've logged at least 2,000 total minutes across this seven-season span.
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.
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