Ranking the Top 7 Cheap NBA Free Agents Still Available
If anyone ever tells you value can't be mined out of NBA free agency after July, please direct them toward the Detroit Pistons picking up Javonte Green at the minimum in August 2025.
Better yet, nod in the direction of the reigning-champion New York Knicks signing Landry Shamet to a training-camp deal in September 2025.
Consider this our attempt to find the seven candidates best suited to be this summer's Green or Shamet: that late-offseason signing who costs a pittance, if they even get a guaranteed deal, but can still make a night-to-night impact for at least 15 minutes per game.
Most of the names should be gettable at the league's minimum. For good measure, though, we'll expand the scope to worthwhile free-agent fliers who would (or will be forced to) accept no more than the $6.1 million mini mid-level exception.
7. Vince Williams Jr.
1 of 7
Age: 25
2025-26 Stats: 8.0 PTS, 4.0 REB, 4.4 AST, 0.8 STL
2025-26 Salary: $2.3 million
Vince Williams Jr. is recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee and is bound to miss a huge chunk of the 2026-27 campaign. A smart team will consider getting in on the ground floor of his return rather than competing for his services this winter or next offseason.
Serious injuries are never a good time, but ACL tears aren't considered career-altering these days. Williams could resume killing defensive possessions once he gets enough game reps under his belt.
Much of his value is also rooted in guarding up. That's more of a strength factor than an athleticism variable.
Touch-and-go three-point shooting is the bigger concern. The 36.8 percent clip he posted last year in limited action on catch-and-fire triples was the second-highest of his career.
That shouldn't deter playoff teams in need of leveling up their defense who have the depth to navigate the regular season largely without him, or squads prepared to grab him now with the thought of negotiating in a club option and eyeing a next-season timeline.
Best Fits: Chicago, Cleveland, Sacramento, San Antonio
6. Ochai Agbaji
2 of 7
Age: 26
2025-26 Stats: 6.7 PTS, 2.3 REB, 0.8 AST, 0.4 STL
2025-26 Salary: $6.4 million
Generally speaking, it's never a good sign when a lottery pick doesn't get tendered a qualifying offer by his incumbent team and instead has his rights entirely renounced. Those are the circumstances under which Ochai Agbaji finds himself.
The skepticism among teams is understandable. Agbaji is enough of an offensive non-factor that his team might end up running four-versus-five in the half-court.
Still, standing 6'5", the combo wing has routinely proved his defensive mettle. He has ranked no lower than the 87th percentile in matchup difficulty since entering the league and has spent more than two-thirds of his career possessions guarding primary ball-handlers, according to BBall Index.
Any squad in need of a perimeter defensive punch should have his name atop their late-summer whiteboard Post-It ranch dressing-stained dinner napkin.
Worst-case scenario, they burn a minimum deal on someone who can't crack the rotation. Best-case scenario, Agbaji rewinds the clock to 2023 (35.5 percent) or 2025 (39.9 percent) when he actually connected on a "Hey, we can play him!" share of 200-plus three-point attempts.
Best Fits: Cleveland, Golden State, Minnesota, Sacramento
5. Brandon Williams
3 of 7
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.
Best Fits: Charlotte, Golden State, Memphis, Milwaukee
4. Bradley Beal
4 of 7
Age: 33
2025-26 Stats: 8.6 PTS, 0.8 REB, 1.7 AST, 0.5 STL
2025-26 Salary: $5.4 million
Left hip surgery sidelined Bradley Beal for all but six games last season. Entering his age-33 campaign, having racked up an average of 42 absences a year over the past half-decade, he might be washed.
On the flip side, what if he's just well-rested?
Failing that, while Beal's on-ball pizzazz may be fading, outside shooting can endure. His past three seasons ranged between forgettable and regrettable, yet he still buried over 40 percent of his triples over that stretch.
Convincing him to jack more treys is the challenge. Coming off a serious injury, it's not one that should be taken lightly or treated as a sure thing.
When you're undertaking that challenge after shelling out the mini MLE or less, though? To hell with certainty.
Best Fits: Detroit, Miami, Orlando, Toronto
3. Bruce Brown Jr.
5 of 7
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.
Best Fits: Cleveland, Denver, San Antonio, Utah
2. Jonathan Kuminga
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Age: 23
2025-26 Stats: 12.2 PTS, 5.6 REB, 2.3 AST, 0.6 STL
2025-26 Salary: $23.8 million
Whether Jonathan Kuminga belongs here has little to do with his value as a player. We have yet to see him deliver complementary offense, rebounding and defense for an entire season on top of his from-scratch proclivities, but the physical tools and semi-extended stretches of highest-percentile actualization remain tantalizing.
Potential cost is the only barrier for entry. He could be someone that gets more than the $6.1 million mini MLE, particularly if the Atlanta Hawks are willing to facilitate a sign-and-trade.
At the same time, his reported asking price of $14 to $16 million per year feels like a pipe dream this late into the offseason. Cap-space and exception spending have dried up, and Atlanta is close enough to the luxury tax it almost assuredly won't want to take back money as part of a sign-and-trade.
Tack on a list of suitors featuring flexibility-starved teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers, and Kuminga may have no choice but to sign a cheap prove-it contract.
Just about any squad should welcome the dice roll under those circumstances. Kuminga remains a wild card, but he routinely ranks among the leaders in self-generated shots at the rim and fouls-drawn rate. If he can get back to hitting his catch-and-shoot threes, while taking more of them, the rest of his flaws become much easier to overlook.
Best Fits: Boston, L.A. Lakers, Milwaukee, Minnesota
1. DeMar DeRozan
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Age: 37
2025-26 Stats: 18.4 PTS, 2.9 REB, 4.1 AST, 1.0 STL
2025-26 Salary: $24.6 million
So much attention is paid to what DeMar DeRozan can't do: hit threes, spend a ton of time off the ball, defend, etc. We need to spend more time appreciating that someone in his late-30s remains a durable walking bucket.
DeRozan has missed 13 combined games over the past three seasons and racked up more than 10 DNPs just twice for his entire career. The absence of meaningful three-point volume works against him, but he's averaged over 20 points per 36 minutes on better than 50 percent shooting inside the arc through each of the past seven seasons. Nikola Jokić, De'Aaron Fox and Jaylen Brown are the only other players who have done the same while qualifying for the scoring leaderboard.
Sprinkle in a "I probably shouldn't run the offense but can definitely initiate for others" playmaking package, and we've got a potential late summer's gem.
Granted, much of this is predicated upon him accepting the mini MLE or less and, in many cases, a bench role. The first leg shouldn't be an issue. He just got paid $10 million to leave the Sacramento Kings.
That second leg is a tougher sell. DeRozan hasn't come off the bench since he was a rookie.
Best Fits: Boston, Detroit, Miami, Utah
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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