Upcoming NBA Free Agents 2022: Listing Who Could be Changing Teams

Upcoming NBA Free Agents 2022: Listing Who Could be Changing Teams

This article is part of our NBA Offseason series.

Things are already starting to warm up in the free agent market. Tuesday night, the Knicks cleared cap space to make a near-max offer to Jalen Brunson. It's also still unclear what will happen with Deandre Ayton, Miles Bridges and other big-name players. Below is the full 2022 NBA free agent class.

NBA Free Agency Tracker: Analysis on every signing and trade

Who are the best NBA unrestricted free agents?

  • Bradley Beal
    • Beal is expected to decline his player option and re-sign with Washington on a five-year, $248 million contract. Whether or not he's really interested in being with the Wizards for the long haul is another question. He's coming off a down season where he averaged 23.2 points after averaging 31.3 points in 2020-21 and 30.5 points in 2019-20.
  • Zach LaVine
    • LaVine plans to explore free agency. The Bulls can offer him a five-year, $215 million deal – $55 million more than any other team. Only four teams have the cap room to sign LaVine outright, and they are the Pistons, Pacers, Magic and Spurs. Otherwise, a sign-and-trade is necessary. LaVine averaged 24.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season.
  • Jalen Brunson
    • Brunson is expected to sign a four-year, $100-plus million deal with the Knicks. New York cleared cap space Tuesday night by sending Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks to the Pistons. Brunson is coming off a career year where he averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists while shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from deep.

Read more: When does 2022 NBA free agency begin? Which teams have the most cap space?

Who are the best NBA restricted free agents?

  • Deandre Ayton
    • Ayton and the Suns failed to come to an agreement on an extension last season, and there seems to be tension between the two parties. It seems likely the Suns will let the market dictate Ayton's contract, which is expected to be a max, and then decide whether or not to match. A sign-and-trade is another option to at least get back some assets. Last season, Ayton averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 boards on 63.4 percent shooting.
  • Miles Bridges
    • Bridges could help the Hornets out by signing a five-year, $139 million deal, which would keep Charlotte below the luxury tax next season. However, it's possible he garners a bigger deal than that in free agency, and that would put the Hornets under some pressure to match and land in a less-than-ideal financial situation. The 24-year-old is coming off a career year where he averaged 20.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
  • Collin Sexton
    • Sexton missed most of last season after tearing his meniscus. Cleveland tendered a qualifying offer to the guard, so the team can match offers from other teams. His market isn't easy to gauge, but in 2020-21, he averaged a nice 24.3 points and 4.4 assists with shooting splits of 48/37/82.
  • Anfernee Simons
    • Simons played well in the absence of Damian Lillard for much of last season. In Simons' final 27 games, he averaged 23.4 points and 5.8 assists with shooting splits of 46/42/87. The 23-year-old will presumably be pursued by other teams, but it would be surprising if the Blazers let him go considering he could be useful whether or not Portland engages in a rebuild.

Which interesting young players could change teams?

Who are some notable free agent centers?

Who are some notable free agent forwards?

Who are some notable free agent guards?

Who else is an unrestricted free agent?

Who else is a restricted free agent?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Barutha
Alex is RotoWire's Chief NBA Editor. He writes articles about daily fantasy, year-long fantasy and sports betting. You can hear him on the RotoWire NBA Podcast, Sirius XM, VSiN and other platforms. He firmly believes Robert Covington is the most underrated fantasy player of the past decade.
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