Numbers to know: 20 intriguing free agents to watch this summer

LeBron James (right) and James Harden are 2 key players to watch in free agency this summer.

With the 2025-26 season in the books, it’s time to start looking forward. And though contracts can’t be signed until July 6, teams are already allowed to begin negotiating with their own free agents.

Free agency

ain’t what it used to be, but there are still plenty of interesting players on the market. Here’s a list of 20 intriguing free agents in the 2026 class, with a number to know about each one …

All numbers are for the 2025-26 regular season, unless otherwise noted.

1. The big names

James Harden (player option), Cleveland:

Though they reached the conference finals, the Cavs’ core of Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen has played just 25 total games together (

seven in the regular season

,

18 in the playoffs

) after Harden arrived in February. They played more than three times as many minutes together in the playoffs (313) as they did in the regular season (92).

LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers):

Led the league

(at the age of 41) with 5.7 fast break points per game

CJ McCollum (Atlanta):

After he arrived from Washington, the Hawks were

13.2 points per 100 possessions

better with McCollum on the floor (plus-10.5) than they were with him off the floor (minus-2.7).

Norman Powell (Miami):

Scored 0.483 points per touch,

third most

among 426 players with at least 500 total touches. This was the sixth straight season that he ranked in the top three

Austin Reaves (Los Angeles Lakers; player option):

Has seen a jump in both

points per game

and

points per 36 minutes

every season he’s been in the league

Trae Young (Washington; player option):

52.7% of his career assists have come on dunks or layups. That’s the highest rate among 113 players with at least 3,000 total assists over the 30 years for which we have play-by-play data.

2. Restricted free agents

Jalen Duren (Detroit):

Had a usage rate of 23.1%,

up from 16.1% in 2024-25

. That was the sixth biggest jump among 290 players who played at least 500 minutes in each of the last two seasons.

Tari Eason (Houston):

Had an effective field goal percentage of 41.8% after the All-Star break,

down from 56% before the break

. That was the biggest drop-off among 216 players with at least 200 field goal attempts before the break and at least 100 after.

Walker Kessler (Utah):

Has averaged 3.35 blocks per 36 minutes over his four-year career. That ranks 11th among players (second among active players) who’ve played at least 3,000 career minutes since blocks started being counted in 1973.

Bennedict Mathurin (LA Clippers):

Averaged 49.6 free throw attempts per 100 shots from the field, the sixth highest rate among 182 players (second highest among non-bigs) with at least 500 field goal attempts.

Peyton Watson (Denver):

Averaged

19.5 points per game

(

with a usage rate of 26.1%

) over his final 24 games, up from

10.7 per game

15.3%

) over his first 30.

3. Contender contributors

Landry Shamet and Mitchell Robinson were 2 key players in the Knicks’ run to the NBA championship.

Lu Dort (Oklahoma City; team option):

Had an effective field goal percentage of 50.8%,

down from 57.8% in 2024-25

. That was the third biggest drop among 123 players with at least 500 field goal attempts in each of the last two seasons.

Ayo Dosunmu (Minnesota):

19.6 points per 36 minutes

, up from 13.2 per 36 through his first four seasons in the league, also registering

a career-best true shooting percentage of 63.0%

.

Rui Hachimura (Los Angeles Lakers):

Shot 93-for-170 (54.7%) on pull-up 2-pointers,

the second-best mark

among 98 players who attempted at least 100.

Tobias Harris (Detroit):

Ranked 10th in the league with 191 post-ups, according to tracking data. The Pistons scored 1.24 points per chance when a Harris post-up led directly to a shot, a turnover, or a trip to the line, the best mark among 31 players with at least 75 direct post-ups.

Kelly Oubre Jr. (Philadelphia):

Registered

a career-high true shooting percentage of 58.0%

. His

36% from 3-point range

including 46.0% from the corners

) was up from 30.9% over the previous three seasons.

Mitchell Robinson (New York):

Led both the

regular season

and the

playoffs

in rebounding percentage.

Landry Shamet (New York):

Has shot

36-for-76

(47.4%) from 3-point range, the third-best mark among 57 players with at least 75 attempts, over the last two postseasons. His

11-for-12

(92%) from 3-point range in the Eastern Conference Finals was the best mark for any player in any playoff series (minimum 10 attempts) in the 47 years of the 3-point line.

4. Boosts from the bench

Jonathan Kuminga (Atlanta; team option):

Has an effective field goal percentage of just 50.2% over the last two seasons. That ranks just 207th among 235 players with at least 750 field goal attempts over the last two years and is down from 56.7% over his first three seasons in the league.

Coby White (Charlotte):

Averaged just

19.4 minutes

in his 21 games with the Hornets, down from 29.1 in his 29 games with the Bulls. Counting

the regular season

the Play-In

, only 117 (26%) of his 449 minutes were played alongside LaMelo Ball.

* * *

John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him

here

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