2016 Free Agents with Best Chance to Drum Up Value During NBA Playoffs

Every NBA player participating in the 2016 playoff bracket is chasing a championship, but others are also chasing dollar signs.

Some soon-to-be free agents don’t need the postseason to beef up their resumes. We know what DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, Kevin Durant, Al Horford, et al. will command on the open markets.

Players with undefined market value are different. Postseason basketball is a small sample size regardless of its actual length and won’t make or break most future contracts. But it is one last chance for mid-end talents or, in some cases, rock-bottom causes to drum up their cost ahead of July’s free-agency bonanza.

 

Honorable Mention: Harrison Barnes, Golden State Warriors (restricted)

Harrison Barnes has become a max-contract formality, if only because that’s what it will take to dare the Golden State Warriors, who can match any offer he receives, to cut him loose. His postseason performance isn’t going to change that.

Barnes can, however, distance himself from that “only worth a max deal to an NBA dynasty” stigma.

That hasn’t happened through his first two outings. He is shooting under 20 percent from the floor and has yet to hit a three-pointer. 

Still, he routinely gets charged with one of the two toughest perimeter assignments on defense, and there will be more than enough chances for him to reinvent his offensive numbers if Stephen Curry’s ankle injury becomes a multigame issue.

 

Kent Bazemore, Atlanta Hawks

Three-and-D talents who don’t kill ball movement are going to get hundy-sticks-as-toilet-paper paid with the salary cap rising. 

Enter Kent Bazemore, whose value has been on the rise for a while now.

League executives told ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe back in January he could command $12 million annually on the open market this summer. That number figures to rise if Bazemore’s playoff performance holds.

He helped alleviate some of the Atlanta Hawks’ offensive burden in a Game 1 win over the Boston Celtics, pumping in 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting. His efficiency trailed off in Game 2, but he dished out four assists and remained a strong defensive presence.

Though the Celtics are hard-pressed to score from the outside in general, especially with Avery Bradley on the sidelines, they are even worse when challenging Bazemore. He is holding Boston’s shooters to a 25 percent success rate from beyond the arc and doing a fantastic job sealing off any open lanes the Celtics’ suddenly clunky offense creates.

Bazemore’s three-point percentage has momentarily dipped, but he drained almost 36 percent of his triples during the regular season. And his playoff offensive rating with that decline is the highest of any Hawk.

Mix in his defensive dynamism at the 2 and 3 spots, along with an ability to hang with point guards on switches, and his price tag should explode by postseason’s end—more so than it already has.

  

Allen Crabbe, Portland Trail Blazers (restricted)

Allen Crabbe has a real opportunity to leave his imprint on the playoff picture, even if the Portland Trail Blazers’ push is short-lived. In fact, if the Blazers are to be more than an infinitesimal steppingstone in the Los Angeles Clippers’ postseason march, he’ll absolutely need to make a wallet-wadding impact.

His offensive value is pretty cut and dry. He doesn’t drive or handle the ball especially well—or often, for that matter. He keeps the rock moving in half-court sets, has developed solid chemistry with Portland’s bigs and does most of his damage as a catch-and-shoot sniper who trails dribble penetration and swings around screens.

Of the 75-plus players to see at least 200 spot-up touches during the regular season, he finished third in points scored per possession, ceding status to only Kawhi Leonard and Chandler Parsons. His effective field-goal percentage—cumulative measurement of two-point and three-point efficiency—on standalone looks ranked second among all Blazers, behind only C.J. McCollum.

This team-friendly offensive game alone will drive up Crabbe’s market value. But he can distinguish himself from the other catch-and-shoot specialists with a stronger defensive showing.

Crabbe has held his own against the Clippers’ shooters, but he’s been badly beaten inside the arc and has seen extensive time within lineups that slotted him against power forwards outright or left him to cover for two to three defensive liabilities.  

Head coach Terry Stotts can help Crabbe by pinning him alongside the Al-Farouq Aminu-Ed Davis dyad. Those three have already logged time together to start the playoffs, just not with Damian Lillard and McCollum. That arrangement lets Crabbe stick to the Clippers’ weakest spot, at small forward, while providing help at the point guard and shooting guard positions.

Basically, it’s the lineup with the best chance of saving the Blazers’ season. And Crabbe’s inclusion is non-negotiable. So if this group plays any part in bolstering Portland’s ebbing playoff hopes, his checking account stands to feel the success, however slight, later on.

 

Luol Deng, Miami Heat

If Luol Deng looks like a different player since the All-Star break, …

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