Ranking the Top NBA Free Agents Still On the Market – Bleacher Report

Most of 2023 NBA free agency’s big names came off the board over the first few days, but a handful of difference-makers remain.
Today, we’re looking at the top players still left on the board.
Based on age, position, how they fit in today’s NBA and past and projected production, you can find those players below.
*Check out 2023 NBA Free Agency Day 1 Grades, including the Kyrie Irving and Draymond Green signings. Day 2 Grades touch on Austin Reaves and a slew of high-profile extensions. Day 3 Grades hit Jordan Clarkson, the Suns’ latest veteran add and a Laker-turned-Net.

After a promising rookie campaign in 2021-22, Ayo Dosunmu took a step back in Year 2. His scoring efficiency and assist percentage both dropped significantly, as Lonzo Ball’s injury forced him into a starting role he wasn’t ready for to begin the season.
Even after he returned to the bench in late February, the numbers didn’t get better. In fact, in that role, Dosunmu averaged just 6.5 points and 1.8 assists, while shooting 33.3 percent from three.
Still, the flashes from that rookie campaign should make him worth a flyer for someone. At 6’5″, he has decent size for a combo guard. And a 37.6 three-point percentage that season suggests he can operate as a floor spacer in lineups with ball-dominant wings or bigs.

Darius Bazley played fewer minutes in 2022-23 than he did in any of his previous three NBA seasons, but he may have stumbled into his most sustainable role with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns.
Both teams used him predominantly as a 5, where his 6’8″ frame may seem a little small, but his combination of perimeter skills and athleticism can be a real weapon.
This season, only 10 players matched or exceeded both of Bazley’s per-possession averages for blocks and assists.
If his 37.7 three-point percentage this season is an indication of things to come, he may yet have a moment in the NBA. (Though the measly 53 attempts suggests we shouldn’t take much from it).

Willy Hernangómez hasn’t been a constant fixture in any NBA rotation since his rookie season in 2016-17 with the New York Knicks.
The reasons for that vary from team to team, but the most consistent is probably just the nature of today’s game.
Hernangómez has some perimeter skills, but his game is closer to those of old-school bigs than today’s rim runners and playmaking 5s.
In his limited opportunities, though, he almost always produces.
He’s averaged at least 15.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per 75 possessions, with a 50-plus field-goal percentage in each of his seven campaigns. Rudy Gobert and Jonas Valančiūnas are the only other players who have done that in each of the last seven campaigns.

After posting a 93rd-percentile defensive estimated plus-minus in 2021-22, soon-to-be-25-year-old Hamidou Diallo pushed his way to the 99th percentile this season.
Thanks to his 7’0″ wingspan and above-the-rim athleticism, he has posted strong defensive rebound and steal rates for a 6’5″ guard/wing.
Combining that with a more concerted effort to take shots around the rim (which gave Diallo by far his career-best effective field-goal percentage) makes him a more dynamic two-way threat.

Kelly Oubre Jr.’s 2022-23 campaign flew under the radar—probably because he only played 48 games for a bad Charlotte Hornets team—but he put up career highs in points (20.3) and steals (1.4) per game.
Sure, the efficiency (or lack thereof) is a problem, and he needs to involve his teammates more, but his slashing and scoring could bolster a second unit.
And while his defense has rarely been a calling card, Oubre’s size (6’7″ with a 7’2¼” wingspan) and athleticism give him the tools to be solid on that end of the floor.
In the right role (the seventh or eighth man on a good team), he can be a positive difference-maker.

At this point, given the limited spending power left in the market, it’s hard to imagine restricted free agent P.J. Washington signing an offer sheet the Charlotte Hornets won’t match.
He started 73 games for the Hornets last year, and they haven’t really added anyone who’ll threaten his spot, though the return of Miles Bridges could eat into his shots and minutes.
Technically, though, he’s still on the market. And he makes plenty of sense as a floor-spacing 4 in today’s NBA. His percentage tumbled in 2022-23, but Washington hit 37.5 percent of his triples over his first three seasons.
He’s long been an underappreciated stat-sheet stuffer too. He doesn’t put up gaudy totals in any one column, but he adds a bit of everything.
There are only 14 players in NBA history who match or exceed all of Washington’s career marks in rebounding percentage, assist percentage, block percentage and steal percentage.

Christian Wood had one of the strangest 2022-23 campaigns in the NBA.
In a contract year, right when he was starting to look like a high-end starting big man, coach Jason Kidd and an untimely injury torpedoed his role.
For about a month from mid-December to mid-January, Wood started and averaged 20.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 2.3 assists and 2.3 threes.
After the injury cost him eight games, he never made another start and averaged just 20.8 minutes. And perhaps to the benefit his potential suitors, that closing stretch probably suppressed hid free-agency value.
Now, a team in need of some outside shooting and a little shot-blocking can probably secure Wood for a bargain.

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