5 Cheap NBA Free Agents Every Team Could Use

The NBA offseason is defined by blockbuster trades and big-money signings, but the reigning champion New York Knicks offer a very recent example of how mundane moves can matter.

Where would they have been without the minimum signing of Jordan Clarkson, and who could have matched the key postseason contributions of Landry Shamet, who signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract for an end-of-bench role last September?

Most of this offseason's high-profile business is done, and what little cap space was once available has disappeared.

That just means teams will need to look a little harder for contributors still on the market. Last season proved that smaller free-agent signings can pay big dividends.

Brandon Williams, Unrestricted

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2025-26 Stats: 13.0 points, 3.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.3 blocks

2025-26 Salary: $2.3 million

Point guard Brandon Williams could still return to the Dallas Mavericks, a squad that certainly needs more backcourt balance on a roster featuring a half-dozen power forwards.

With Kyrie Irving coming back from injury, Ryan Nembhard ahead of Wiliams in the pecking order and Cooper Flagg likely slated for plenty of on-ball reps in his second season, it still might be best for the 26-year-old to explore other options.

The four-year vet was a productive scorer who did most of his damage inside the arc last season. A 40.0 percent hit rate from deep in 2024-25 offers hope that last year's 23.2 percent clip from distance was anomalously low. Even mediocre shooting would help supercharge one of Williams' main skills: getting downhill often enough to draw tons of free throws.

Williams averaged 7.5 free-throw attempts per 36 minutes for the Mavs, more than All-NBA names like Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson.

A starter in 15 contests with Dallas in 2025-26, the Arizona product is a good bet to provide reliable backup reps in most rotations.

It's probably not ideal if Williams is your team's first guard off the bench, but he can handle double-digit minutes in plenty of rotations.

Matisse Thybulle, Unrestricted

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2025-26 Stats: 5.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.5 blocks

2025-26 Salary: $11.6 million

Durability concerns and a total inability to create shots for himself might have teams spooked, but Matisse Thybulle has a legitimate superpower that should override any concerns about his weaknesses.

The 29-year-old wing is one of the most disruptive defensive forces the league has seen in decades.

None of the 1,279 players who've logged at least 2,000 minutes this century has a higher career steal rate than Thybulle. In addition to pilfering the ball a historic 3.8 times per 100 possessions, Thybulle also averages 1.9 blocks per 100 possessions.

No one in NBA history with at least 5,000 minutes can match Thybulle's combined block and steal percentages.

This is a player who'd probably be valuable even if he couldn't shoot the ball at all. At the very least, he'd be worth an end-of-bench spot somewhere. But Thybulle drilled 39.8 percent of his threes last year and has hit at least 35.0 percent in three other seasons of his career.

Anyone with a minimum salary slot would be lucky to have Thybulle, and several teams should consider using parts of their remaining midlevel exceptions to acquire him.

Ochai Agbaji, Unrestricted

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2025-26 Stats: 5.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.3 blocks

2025-26 Salary: $6.4 million

It's not a great sign that the Brooklyn Nets declined to tender Ochai Agbaji a qualifying offer this summer. The 26-year-old wing was the 14th pick in the 2022 draft, and it's relatively rare for teams to let former first-rounders get away without leveraging restricted free agency.

Another concern: Brooklyn was Agbaji's third team in four years.

All that aside, it's just not that easy to find athletic, seemingly capable defenders who've shown the ability to knock down threes. Though the 39.9 percent Agbaji canned from deep in 2023-24 with the Toronto Raptors looks like an outlier, he drilled 35.5 percent as a rookie and shot 34.9 percent in 20 games with the Nets this past season. A career 75.5 percent mark from the foul line suggests Agbaji's form is far from broken.

It could be that the league has had the chance to assess Agbaji and determined he's just not quite good enough on either end to be viewed as a keeper. That was certainly Brooklyn's conclusion.

It still seems like he could help most teams as a bench option. Those 45 starts and career-high 10.4 points per game with the Raptors two years ago weren't some freak accident. Agbaji was a legitimate starter at age 24. He should at least be able to handle a rotation role at 26.

Bruce Brown, Unrestricted

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2025-26 Stats: 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.2 blocks

2025-26 Salary: $3.1 million

As long as nobody expects him to be the guy who produced some of the best bench minutes in the league en route to the 2023 championship, Bruce Brown still has a lot to offer.

Just last season, he appeared in all 82 games during his second tour of duty with the Denver Nuggets, contributing his most efficient offensive season in years. Boosted by a 38.5 percent conversion rate from beyond the arc, Brown bumped his effective field-goal percentage all the way up to 53.0 percent—his best mark since that title-winning season in 2023.

Versatility has always been a key selling point for the 29-year-old. It's easy to forget now, but Brown came into the league billed as a playmaking guard, spent time as an undersized roll man with Brooklyn and then developed into a three-and-D wing. He's not a perfect solution in any of those roles, and the aging curve is starting to show, but a former champ who can plug all sorts of leaks in a rotation should still be in demand.

Gary Payton II, Unrestricted

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2025-26 Stats: 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.3 blocks

2025-26 Salary: $3.3 million

Gary Payton II still fits better on the Golden State Warriors than anywhere else. His familiarity with the offensive system there is second to none, and he's spent years developing a knack for playing off Stephen Curry's gravity.

Odds are, he'll be back with the Dubs on a minimum deal.

If Golden State decides to go another direction, which it should consider in light of its need for youth and shot-creation, Payton would still bring highly valuable qualities to any other team.

An elite cutter whose development as a point guard shows up in his timing and understanding of passing angles, Payton overcomes his spotty three-point shooting by sprinting into open spaces for easy looks. Somehow still supremely athletic at 34, Payton is always a good bet to spike a tip-dunk or dart along the baseline for a high-wire lob.

An elite on-ball defender against guards and wings, he hasn't posted a steal rate below the 90th percentile at any point since establishing himself as a pro in 2019.

Just 6'2", Payton can also rebound better than many bigs. He's especially deadly sneaking in for putbacks, and he ranked in the 99th percentile among wings in offensive rebound rate last season.

Lastly, Payton's hustle, competitiveness and gregarious personality endear him to teammates immediately. Even if he doesn't see the floor much, his positive impact on a locker room is worth a minimum salary by itself.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Salary info via Spotrac.

Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.