{"id":1994512,"date":"2026-06-17T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1994512"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:00:07","slug":"nba-free-agency-2026-austin-reaves-norman-powell-highlight-shooting-guard-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1994512","title":{"rendered":"NBA free agency 2026: Austin Reaves, Norman Powell highlight shooting guard class"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The NBA free-agent market in general isn\u2019t good, but it\u2019s stronger at shooting guard than at most other spots.<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves is an All-Star-caliber lead guard who will be a true unrestricted free agent, Norman Powell is also unrestricted while coming off an All-Star season, and players like Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are valuable performers who are still in their 20s.<\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to my BORD$ formula, seven different shooting guards worth more than $10 million will hit unrestricted free agency this summer, while the LA Clippers\u2019 interesting Bennedict Mathurin will hit the market via restricted free agency (more on the BORD$ methodology here<\/a>). They\u2019re all in their 20s except Powell, making it a strong environment to find a potential long-term starter.<\/p>\n

As always, I\u2019ve included all free agents and potential free agents due to player options, team options and non-guaranteed contracts, except for absurd cases where there is no chance of a player being waived and \u2014 importantly \u2014 also no chance for other cap shenanigans by declining options and signing new contracts. For instance, you can rest assured the Oklahoma City Thunder won\u2019t be waiving Ajay Mitchell from his non-guaranteed deal for 2026-27 that pays him just $3 million. Ditto for Sidy Cissoko in Portland and Kris Dunn with the Clippers.<\/p>\n

Free-agent market:<\/strong> Top 25<\/a><\/p>\n

(PO = player option; TO = team option; NG = non-guaranteed; PG = partial guarantee; R = restricted)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Tier 1: Max guys<\/strong><\/h2>\n

None<\/p>\n

Tier 2: More than MLE, less than max<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. <\/strong>Austin Reaves, L.A. Lakers (PO): $34,429,743<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Reaves obviously will opt out of his current deal, which pays him a mere pittance at $14.9 million for 2026-27, and the Lakers can use his artificially low cap hold ($20.9 million) to fill in the roster with cap room before coming back to sign him at a more market-appropriate contract. That landing point would seem about four years and $140 million, based on BORD$, for a 28-year-old who has defense and durability questions but also showed last season he can be a high-usage, lead initiator on offense.<\/p>\n

However, the Lakers may be forced to go even higher. As one of the most prominent unrestricted free agents on the board, Reaves could command an over-the-top max offer from a talent-needy rival such as the Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n

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What we know about LeBron James’ retirement decision<\/div>\n
Dan Woike<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/GkT2JC65mk5eRyM\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/GkT2JC65mk5eRyM\/”,”name”:”What we know about LeBron James’ retirement decision”,”description”:”Dan Woike has the latest on what LeBron’s future plans are. “,”uploadDate”:”2026-05-22T19:41:41.534Z”,”duration”:”PT1M59S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/GkT2JC65mk5eRyM\/cj49zB27ehwV.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/GkT2JC65mk5eRyM\/cj49zB27ehwV\/cj49zB27ehwV.m3u8″,”transcript”:”LeBron James is an unrestricted free agent. He does not have an option for next season. He does not know where he is going to play. He does not know if he is going to play, at least that’s the vibe I’ve gotten in the conversations I’ve had with him and people close to him throughout the course of the season. The way that this is gonna play out now is he’s gonna take a little time off. He’s gonna, you know, talk to his family, talk to his confidants, talk to his team, look at the options, and, and my guess is that he will not. Announce, yes, I’m, I intend on playing next season, um, because, quite frankly, he’s not a restricted free agent. He doesn’t know what the offers are. He doesn’t know what his options are yet. A more realistic thing would be, you know, if he does want to play next season, um, or he thinks he wants to, to test his body and get ready. But then to take a series of free agency meetings, talk to teams, figure out, um, what he’s willing to accept, figure out what’s out there for him. Um, we know, you know, there are only a handful of cap space teams available, um, the Lakers being one of them. There are the Brooklyn Nets, there are the Chicago Bulls. Neither of those teams, um, is in Los Angeles or ready to win. So I think he’s gonna consider some other teams. He’s gonna consider options where he feels like he can win a championship. But look, I think for a long time, he’s had options to go elsewhere, and he’s decided to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers. Um, the question becomes, what are the Lakers willing to offer him? Rob Plinka and JJ Reddick, but particularly Rob Plinka made it clear that while they want LeBron James, um, they would love to have him finish his career with the Lakers. You know, that, that’s not priority number one for them this offseason. Priority number one is to build around Lukadancic. And I think that they need, uh, a rim-running center. They need more athleticism on the wings, and they would love to fit LeBron James into that plan. It’s just a matter of if it’s if the money’s gonna work, if he’s willing to take it, and most importantly, if he wants to play next season.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Dan Woike”}]}<\/p>\n
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