Resetting the NBA offseason: Best free agents remaining, plus extension-eligible players and trade candidates

The NBA Draft was a month ago, most major free-agent deals have been done for three weeks and summer league is in the books. (Congratulations to Kon Knueppel, K.J. Simpson and the rest of the Summer Hornets by the way -- those rings are pretty nice.) This means that much of the league is in vacation mode, with training camp still a couple of months away.

It does not, however, mean that the offseason is (completely) over. There are restricted free agents who remain in limbo, veterans who are still on the market and extension-eligible players who haven't gotten deals done. There's also the possibility that, in between now and the start of the season, there will be another big trade. One of 2024's biggest blockbusters took place in October. 

There is still plenty of time to review everything that has happened this offseason. What follows is a look at what still hasn't.

The RFA stalemate

The lack of cap space around the league made this summer even tougher than normal for restricted free agents. Of the seven 2021 first-round picks who became RFAs, three have signed deals: Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama (three years, $52.5 million), Miami Heat guard Davion Mitchell (two years, $24 million) and Indiana Pacers center Isaiah Jackson (three years, $21 million). The four who remain unsigned -- Quentin Grimes, Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey and Cam Thomas -- are looking for much more money than that.

There hasn't been much buzz about the possibility of Grimes leaving the Philadelphia 76ers. Forced into a higher-usage role due to injuries in Philadelphia, he looked more confident and capable with the ball in his hands late last season than at any other point in his career. Daryl Morey's front office is surely hoping next year's iteration of the team won't need any 40-point games from Grimes, but, even with the backcourt looking a bit crowded, he projects to play an important role. Morey has consistently said the Sixers want him back, but, with nobody forcing them into a bidding war, how much will they be willing to pay?

Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors seem ready for a breakup, but, if no viable sign-and-trade solution emerges, could they re-sign him to a short-term deal? It would be a marriage of convenience, but maybe it could work out for both parties the way that Jalen Green's short-term extension did for the Houston Rockets. (The Rockets included him in the Kevin Durant deal.) Kuminga has been linked to the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns, but any sign-and-trade scenario would be complicated. Beyond the issue of base-year compensation, this isn't just about finding a team that is willing to pay Kuminga like a potential star. It's about finding a team that is so excited about paying him like a potential star that they are willing to send real assets to the Warriors in order to do so.

(The unresolved Kuminga situation has held up Golden State's other business, like the reported additions of Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton. Signing Horford to the taxpayer midlevel exception would hard-cap the Warriors at the second apron, and taking back more than Kuminga's outgoing salary in sign-and-trade would hard-cap them at the first apron. If they were hard-capped, a team that opens up cap space -- or the Brooklyn Nets -- could theoretically offer Kuminga a first-year salary that they couldn't match without first opening up cap space of their own.)

Typically, when a team acquires a player a year before he becomes a restricted free agent, it does so with the intention of keeping him. Given that Giddey had seen his role with the Oklahoma City Thunder diminish in the 2024 playoffs, though, it was understandable that he and the Chicago Bulls didn't reach an extension before the 2024-25 season. After putting up big numbers in the second half of the season, Giddey must expect his bet on himself to pay off. Multiple reports indicate that he's seeking a new contract worth about $30 million per season, but the Bulls have stood firm at closer to $20 million. It is possible that, a year after re-signing forward Patrick Williams to a five-year, $90 million contract that looks disastrous, Chicago has decided it's time to play hardball. 

Thomas got mad at The Ringer's Zach Lowe on social media, but the podcast he was peeved about featured an evenhanded discussion of his game. While the Nets can more than afford to pay him, but there's no way they'll give him the approximately $30 million per season that he's reportedly asking for. There appears to be a disconnect between the way Thomas sees himself and the way he's seen around the league.

The best available UFAs

Even if you don't count Horford, Melton or Malik Beasley (whose short- and long-term NBA future is up in the air because he's under federal investigation for allegedly gambling on NBA games), you can put together a decent roster of role players who remain unsigned.

Here's a starting lineup: 

• Malcolm Brogdon: After a couple of years in Portland and Washington, it feels like it's time for the veteran guard to get back on a winning team. If healthy, he could be a real bargain for a contender -- it was only two years ago that he won Sixth Man of the Year in Boston.
• Gary Payton II: Everybody wants to pressure opposing ballhandlers these days, so it's a bit surprising that he is still out there. Payton fits well in Golden State's system, so don't rule out a return. 
• Amir Coffey: The 28-year-old wing played the sixth-most minutes of any Clipper last year, but the rotation is now extremely crowded, so he likely has to leave to find a consistent role. Coffey made 42.1% of his catch-and-shoot 3s last season.
• Trey Lyles: Need a rotation-caliber 4/5 who can stretch the floor a bit? Lyles has been quietly doing that job in Sacramento for the last few years.
• Chris Boucher: Need a rotation-caliber 4/5 who can stretch the floor a bit? Boucher has been quietly doing that job in Toronto forever, and he really got those 3s up last season. 

On the bench: Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons, Monté Morris, Dalano Banton, Cody Martin, Seth Curry, Thomas Bryant, Precious Achiuwa, Landry Shamet and Cory Joseph.

I suppose this leaves Delon Wright, Cameron Payne, Garrison Mathews, Markelle Fultz, Alec Burks, Torrey Craig and Talen Horton-Tucker competing for the two-way spots on this fake UFA team. 

Extensions that haven't happened (yet)

On Aug. 2, Luka Dončić will be eligible to sign a lucrative, long-term extension with the Los Angeles Lakers. He's expected to commit to the Lakers this summer, but it's unclear how long he'll go on the deal. Rather than taking a four-year max contract, which would run through the 2029-30 season and be worth an estimated $222 million, he could sign a three-year deal with a player option on the final season, which would allow him to hit free agency in 2028 with 10 years of experience, at which point he could sign a new deal that starts at 35% of the salary cap.

On Aug. 3, De'Aaron Fox of the San Antonio Spurs will be eligible to sign the same extensions. When the Spurs traded for him in February, they surely planned on getting a deal done, but they didn't know at the time that they'd land the No. 2 pick in the draft. Even with Dylan Harper on the roster, though, it'd be surprising if they did not work something out with Fox. The difference between his situation and Dončić's, though, is that he won't necessarily have a no-questioned-asked max contract on the table.

Since Nikola Jokić will not extend his contract with the Denver Nuggets this summer, the above are the two biggest names who are likely to sign extensions. They are far from the only ones who could, though:

• Trae Young is eligible to sign an extension and reportedly excited about what the Atlanta Hawks are building, but that doesn't mean the two sides are going to get anything done this offseason. His full max is the same four-year, approximately $222 million deal that Dončić and Fox are eligible for.
• The New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges is eligible to sign an extension worth up to $156 million over four years. According to SNY's Ian Begley, one of the reasons he hasn't done so is that the Knicks are still waiting to see if Giannis Antetokounmpo could become available on the trade market. (If Bridges were to extend, he'd be ineligible to be traded for six months.) Karl-Anthony Towns is eligible for an extension, too, but this seems far less likely. Towns has three years left on his current contract. 
• The Grizzlies' Ja Morant and the Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland are in the same boat as Towns. They are eligible to add two years and $125 million to their respective contracts, which would lock them in through 2030. If they don't extend this year, they will be eligible to sign three-year extensions next summer. 
• Everybody knows the Los Angeles Clippers weren't prepared to mess up their pristine salary-cap situation by offering Norman Powell the kind of extension he would have been interested in signing. The trade that sent him to the Heat, however, may not have made an extension more likely this summer, since Miami can't offer him more than three years and about $80 million until he's been on the roster for six months. In January, it can offer him an extra year and a higher starting salary.
• More players of note who are eligible to sign veteran extensions: Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu of the Bulls, Max Strus and Dean Wade of the Cavs, Bobby Portis and AJ Green of the Bucks and Donte DiVincenzo of the Timberwolves.
• P.J. Washington will be eligible to sign an extension with the Mavericks on Aug. 29. On Oct. 1, Tyler Herro and Andrew Wiggins of the Heat, Aaron Nesmith of the Pacers, RJ Barrett of the Raptors and De'Andre Hunter of the Cavaliers will be eligible to sign extensions, too.
• There's a long list of players eligible for rookie extensions until Oct. 21, most notably: Keegan Murray of the Kings, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren of the Pistons, Bennedict Mathurin of the Pacers, Shaedon Sharpe of the Blazers, Dyson Daniels of the Hawks, Jeremy Sochan of the Spurs, Ochai Agbaji of the Raptors, Mark Williams of the Suns, Tari Eason of the Rockets, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson of the Nuggets, Walker Kessler of the Jazz and Nikola Jović of the Heat.

Trades that haven't happened (yet)

Any LeBron James trade would be tricky to pull off, and not just because his son plays for his current team. It's not impossible to trade him, though, and Rich Paul's comments to ESPN on June 29 suggested he wasn't sure about his future with the Lakers. Since then, James has not publicly cleared the air, so the speculation continues: What exactly does James want? Could he really be traded? Where? It seems like the safest bet is that he'll remain in Los Angeles, but the reality is that the team is now building around Dončić. Much crazier things have happened (recently, involving the Lakers).

The Bucks have been operating as if Antetokounmpo isn't going anywhere, and there haven't been any signals that he's about to request a trade. I should note, though, that the strongest statement he's made about staying in Milwaukee next season is, "Probably, probably, we'll see."

Despite all sorts of rumors leading up to the offseason, Lauri Markkanen is still with the Jazz; Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Malik Monk are still with the Kings; Zion Williamson is still with the Pelicans; Barrett is still with the Raptors; Nikola Vucevic is still with the Bulls and Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III are still with the Blazers. At this point, I wouldn't bet on any one particular member of that group being traded before the season starts. I'd be moderately surprised, though, if none of them is traded.