What Is Left For Contending Teams To Go After?

usncan 2025-07-30

0 0 4 minutes read

📝 usncan Note: What Is Left For Contending Teams To Go After?

Disclaimer: This content has been prepared based on currently trending topics to increase your awareness.

Despite the 2025 Free Agency Cycle being almost a month old and all the perceived high-profile names being off the board, I resent the notion that you can’t find real value at this point in time.

In 2023, the Dallas Mavericks didn’t end up signing Derrick Jones Jr. until mid-August, yet he started all of their playoff games en route to the 2024 NBA Finals. And while there is no guarantee an NBA Finals starter is still unsigned, potential playoff-caliber rotation players are surely working in an empty gym and waiting to break bread with an employer.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at who is still available and what they have to offer to a playoff hopeful. For this particular article, we are going to avoid discussing restricted free agents. Now, without further ado, here’s what’s left on the market for contenders to try and snatch up.

Bench Creators

To avoid an abundance of words in the generation of TikToks and YouTube Shorts, we are going to group players into player archetypes. The first category we are highlighting is the bench creators.

These players no longer have the juice (or they never had) to anchor an offense as a primary or secondary option, but they can still provide a nice boost in short stints off the bench. The headliners here are Malcolm Brogdon and Russell Westbrook.

Brogdon is likely the more desirable option given his age (he’s four years younger than Westbrook) and more reliable outside shot (38.8% career 3-point shooter, compared to Westbrook’s 30.5%). However, reliability issues (he’s missed 101 of 164 games in the last two years) have severely diminished Brogdon’s value, making it possible that a team could get a very good offensive player (90th percentile Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus in 2023-24, per Dunks & Threes) for little more than his veteran minimum.

Westbrook played a big part in helping the Denver Nuggets fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he was also essential to their defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in Round One. Even at nearly 37 years old, Westbrook is still basketball’s greatest enigma and a good two-way bench player on the right night.

Some other guys who constitute as bench creators but don’t provoke the same level of gravitas as these two are Cameron Payne, Cory Joseph, Alec Burks, and Monte Morris. All of which can be had for their respective veterans’ minimum.

Two-Way Wings/Forwards

This is probably the most important archetype left on the board. In the postseason, everyone is searching for complementary wings/forwards that can defend without hurting them on offense or space the floor without being a matador on defense. The teams that advance have a plethora of these guys, while the ones that are eliminated are at a shortage.

My two favorite options here are Landry Shamet and Amir Coffey. I’ve written extensive words on this website about both of them. I highly recommend you check those articles out (here is the Shamet story, and here is the Coffey one), but the bottom line is that both of them have the tools and statistical indicators to be rotation-level wings in the postseason, and for various reasons, they could be had for a fraction of what it would normally cost.

Outside of them, Torrey Craig could be a name that teams try to go after. He’s got good size (a 6’11 wingspan), solid defensive numbers (for instance, his block rate was in the 86th percentile last season), and is a career 35.4% outside shooter. However, after failing to garner much run on the Boston Celtics, even after Jayson Tatum went down, it seems like Craig’s best days may be behind him (he’s entering his age-35 season next year).

One-Way Wings/Forwards

When you can’t get a two-way wing/forward, the next best bet is to sign a player with serious flaws on one side of the floor and hope that they can do enough in that area (and that your team’s infrastructure is strong enough) to profit off their strengths (this is basically the risk the Mavericks took with Jones).

Seth Curry is still a fantastic shooter (45.6% from three last season), but his defensive woes are well-understood (12th percentile DEF EPM). Gary Payton II is his antithesis – a splendid defender (93rd percentile DEF EPM) whose inconsistent jumper (32.6% from three) keeps him from being a lite version of Jalen Suggs. A similar statement can be made about Javonte Green. Marjon Beauchamp (defense-first wing), Delon Wright (defensive-first), and Caleb Houston (offense-first wing) are all worth a mention here, too. And while he’s no longer the All-Star he was with the Philadelphia 76ers, Ben Simmons has reinvented himself as a Swiss Army Knife defender who still struggles on offense (read more about him here).

Any playoff team that is low in wings/forwards would do well to take a gamble on one of these guys.

Situational Bigs

The best teams usually have a good deal of lineup versatility. This typically means that they roster a handful of centers to allow them to play a bunch of different styles.

Al Horford (if he doesn’t retire) gives you the ability to switch everything or play two bigs at once thanks to his 3-point shooting prowess (career 37.7%). Trey Lyles is an option if you want to go super small (6’9) and prioritize offense (64th percentile OFF EPM in 2023-24). Precious Achiuwa also lets you play small (6’8), but he helps you prioritize defense (86th percentile DEF EPM last season). Alex Len is a good traditional backup big man who can protect the rim and eat fouls against strong interior scorers. Thomas Bryant gives you Horford’s size and shooting, but without nearly the same level of defense (19th percentile DEF EPM).

For the record, Horford and Lyles are by far and away my favorites of this group. And unlike the other players I listed, I think they could secure minutes in almost any playoff series, not just those where they are playing a favorable matchup.