Seven best players still available as free agents

Welcome to the NBA offseason grind: half the league is on vacation, trades are few and far between, and the trades that do occur are more about filling out the back end of the roster (Utah signs Patty Millsfor example) or signing two-way players and inviting camps.

Still, there are a few free agents worth mentioning. They’re not game changers, but they’re guys who can fill a spot in the rotation and help a team. Here are the seven best free agents still on the market.

1. Markel Fultz

This one surprises me a little, because outside of the Orlando spotlight, Fultz has developed into a solid point guard when healthy. A couple of things have slowed teams down. First, there are health issues: he played 43 games last season and 129 in the previous four. Second, he needs to have the ball in his hands to be most effective, but he’s not a great shooter (22.2% from 3 last season).

Still, he could give a team solid bench minutes as a backup, but no team has made a move yet. He’ll have to accept a minimum contract at this point, possibly from Orlando.

The Cavaliers winger was expected to receive a raise from the $8.9 million he earned last season (the final year of his rookie deal), but was crushed by the limited free agent market. Okoro averaged 9.4 points per game last season and shot an improved 39.1% from 3, but teams weren’t jumping in to offer more than Cleveland would have matched. The Cavaliers let the market play out, no team was willing to come out on top with a huge offer (and so no team made an offer), and here we are. Okoro will likely re-sign with the Cavaliers before training camp.

Walker averaged 9.7 points per night in 58 games for the Nets last season, while shooting 38.4 percent. Those are solid numbers, and Walker could fit into many teams’ rotations, though whether he fits in a changing Brooklyn remains to be seen. The challenge is that front offices see Walker as a scorer and little else. Still, if a team were to sign him to a minimum deal, he can provide a team with buckets and is capable of making a splash a handful of games each season.

The veteran guard spent last season in Denver, where he appeared in 58 games and averaged four points a night on 40.4% from 3, before seeing an uptick in minutes during the playoffs against the Timberwolves. With that, he was likely looking for a salary above the veteran minimum (which he was paid last season), but the deal wasn’t there. At 35, he’ll be signed by a team looking for a veteran presence off the bench, but he can come in and be a stabilizing force.

Osman was a regular in the Spurs rotation last season, averaging 6.8 points per game on a 38.9% shooting percentage from 3 in the 72 games he played (all but 3 off the bench). Osman has said he’d like to return to the Spurs, but at this point, any team looking for a bench shooter should give him a call. He’s under 30, has a good frame (6’7″), and could fit into a lot of teams.

Smith is another player who was left without a seat when the music stopped following the Nets’ offseason moves. Last season, the point guard averaged 6.6 points and 3.6 assists per game in Brooklyn. While he’s not a great outside shooter (career 29.8% from 3), he can run the show and provide rotational minutes off the bench. While there have been rumors about a few teams, nothing has materialized yet.

Davis Bertans was cut by Charlotte this summer — while on the court for his native Latvia in an Olympic qualifying game — and has yet to be picked up, though there are rumors the 76ers are interested. Bertans is a 6’10” floor-spacing big who averaged 6.7 points per game and shot 38% from 3 with Oklahoma City and Charlotte last season. Many teams could use a four/small-ball five to spread the floor off the bench, so it’s easy to imagine him signing a deal sometime before training camp.

Honorable Mention: Boban Marjanović, Talen Horton-Tucker, Marcus Morris Sr., Evan Fournier, Tristan Thompson, Reggie Bullock, Danilo Gallinari, Jae Crowder, TJ Warren, Thaddeus Young, Robert Covington and Javonte Green.