Cheap NBA Free Agents Who Can Still Help Every Team

With NBA training camps right around the corner, focus has firmly shifted from potential transactions to crucial topics such as position battles, overall rotations, player development and, of course, #musclewatch.

Still, much like basketball itself, free agency never sleeps.

A handful of potentially useful names continue to float around the open market, just waiting for an opportunity to deepen a squad's bench. This one's for them.

None of these names should cost more than a minimum contract. Some, if not all, could be convinced to accept non-guaranteed training-camp deals. That makes them gettable for every team. 

Members of this list are being selected on the merits of basketball intrigue. Vets who will draw interest predominantly for their locker-room presence (i.e., Kevin Love) are not included. 

The same goes for anyone who needs to dominate the ball or play a hyper-specific role. Cam Thomas might be worth a dice roll for some team, but these five free agents are candidates to help any team.

Ochai Agbaji

Pamela Smith/Getty Images

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.

Bruce Brown Jr.

Garrett Ellwood/National Basketball Association via Getty Images

Age: 30

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 takes mostly unguarded shots. 

None of Brown's other connective skills are a mirage. He keeps the ball moving. He can reach the basket on or off the rock. He knows how to cut and relocate in the half-court. And he keeps defenses guessing from short-roll territory.

Lindy Waters III

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Age: 29

2025-26 Stats: 2.4 PTS, 0.7 REB, 0.5 AST, 0.2 STL

2025-26 Salary: $2.3 million

Through five years at the NBA level, Lindy Waters III has seldom been a regular part of any team's rotation. After a half-decade of bouncing around, now would be an understandable time to give up on that ever-changing situation.

Related: Don't give up on him.

High-volume shooting is always useful to have in the tank. Waters promises it in spades.

Among everyone who's logged at least as much floor time over the past five seasons, the 6'5" shooting guard is one of six players tossing up more than 10 three-point attempts per 36 minutes. He is joined by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, LaMelo Ball, Sam Merrill and Buddy Hield.

Although Waters' efficiency isn't what you'd call scintillating, he's downed a passable 36.3 percent of his triples during this span. That's a value add, given he's not consigned to standalone opportunities in the corners.

Waters has never ranked lower than the 86th percentile in off-ball screening touches per 75 possessions, according to BBall Index. That kind of usage puts constant pressure on opposing defenses—and any team could use it.

Cam Whitmore

David Dow/National Basketball Association via Getty Images

Age: 22

2025-26 Stats: 9.2 PTS, 2.8 REB, 0.7 AST, 0.7 STL

2025-26 Salary: $3.5 million

Cam Whitmore finds himself without a team after the Washington Wizards flipped him to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who subsequently waived him. His availability is just the latest development in one of the strangest early-career arcs we've seen.

Selected 20th overall by the Houston Rockets in 2023, Whitmore's scoring, shooting and downhill pedigree initially made him look like a steal. But his role in H-Town evaporated as a sophomore, and he was shipped to Washington ahead of last season.

The Wizards gave Whitmore a crack at minutes to begin the year, but head coach Brian Keefe benched him for a dearth of passing and disengaged defense. Doctors then found a blood clot in his right shoulder that sidelined him the rest of the year.

This is all to say: Whitmore clearly comes with baggage. But a 6'7" wing with a(n admittedly brief) history of attacking the rim and shooting threes is always worth a flier. The appeal skyrockets knowing he just turned 22 in July.

For all his flaws, Whitmore is instant offense. He's averaging over 20 points per 36 minutes for his career. Out of everyone from his draft class who's seen as much court time, Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh are the only other players doing the same.

Vince Williams Jr.

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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.

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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.