Valuable NBA Players That Are Somehow STILL Free Agents To Start The Season

Well basketball fans, we made it. The NBA season is ramping back up with media day going down, training camp kicking off, and all 30 teams officially joined back together to get things going for the 2027 season. Rosters are mostly filled up and finalized, so what you see with each group is what you get. But on that note, there are still some very notable names missing, and that brings us to today's video. Today we'll be turning our attention to 5 players that are still available on the free agency market unsigned to an NBA roster for varying reasons despite being capable of contributing something meaningful to a team's rotation. We'll go through each player, why they haven't been signed, and what I think they are still capable of if given a chance. Before we start though, it would be greatly appreciated if you could all utilize YouTube's new hype feature and hype this video up as it actually does help quite a bit. Now with that said, let's begin. Now speaking of Cam Thomas, he is actually the next player up we'll be discussing today on this list. Thomas is a player who is undoubtedly such a talented pure scorer of the basketball, who just happens to be coming up in the worst era of NBA basketball to have the specific skillset that he has. The first 4 years of his career could not possibly have gone better for him given what he was working with. He came into the NBA as a rookie playing on a star-studded Brooklyn Nets team and was taken under the wing by players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who spoke very highly of him at the time. Then when those players left and the Nets shifted into a rebuild, Cam Thomas got more free reign to have the ultimate green light on offense and show what he was fully capable of, and in each of those first 4 seasons, his scoring output increased quite sizably. In 2024, Cam Thomas averaged 22.5 points per game, and then in 2025, he averaged 24 points per game, which no matter how you slice it, is incredibly strong scoring output that few others in the league replicate year after year. Now bringing us back to reality, there is of course a lot more context that goes into it. Cam Thomas scores a whole lot of points because every single time he touches the ball, that's what he's looking to do. He will literally only pass if he absolutely has to, and even in situations where you would think he has to pass the ball, he sometimes still chucks up a completely ridiculous shot. He's also just not efficient enough to hand the keys to an offense over to him, having a below average shooting percentage in terms of the true shooting percentage metric every single year of his career. Then on top of that, he doesn't play any defense, nor does he even try to give much effort on that end most times. In the 2025 offseason, he was offered a 2 year, $30 million contract extension, and he turned it down to take the qualifying offer, hoping for a better showing this summer. Well, last year on the nets, they ended up trading him to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks then waived him shortly after, and he has been unsigned ever since. A guy who averaged 24 points per game is out of the league as we speak in the middle of his 20s because it seems as though his ego got in the way of what he realistically needed to improve upon in order to stick around. I still believe scoring talent like that can be utilized as a useful sixth man type of role, but it is on Cam Thomas to change some parts of the way he approaches the game because in today's NBA, you can't be a smaller, score-first guard and not play any defense. The next player we'll be discussing that is somehow still an unsigned free agent at the start of training camp is Rob Dillingham. Just two short years ago, Rob Dillingham was a top 10 pick in the draft, entering with worlds of hype, expectations, and supposed upside. In his one season in college at Kentucky, he was an electrifying playmaker on the ball with a lightning-quick first step, impeccable body control, a tight handle, and a knockdown pull-up jumper. He averaged about 15 points and 4 assists per game that year in college, shooting the ball ridiculously efficiently, making 48% of his shots and 44% of his threes, so the hope was that worst-case scenario in the NBA he could be an impact sixth man that could ignite the offense, and best-case scenario, he could be a high-end starting point guard. Unfortunately, at the current moment, it seems like there was a secret third answer, none of the above. He was drafted 8th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2024, and the Wolves had been in search of a long-term solution at the point guard position for a while, so they obviously did so hoping that Rob Dillingham could be that solution. Unfortunately, I don't think Dillingham was ready to begin his career immediately playing for a team that was competing near the top of the Western Conference with deep playoff run aspirations. Like most rookies, Rob Dillingham struggled mightily with consistency and efficiency, but the problem is he's also a pretty bad defender. Dillingham is one of the smallest players in the entire NBA, so he's already at a huge physical disadvantage, and that combo led to him being on a very tight leash in Minnesota's rotation. He was just never able to put it all together enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff, so they traded him to Chicago last season where he did finish the year and got more consistent run than he ever previously got, but the same struggles seemed to persist. This summer, he was traded to Charlotte, the Hornets then waived him, and that's where things currently stand. A once tantalizing prospect and top pick out of the NBA after just 2 years. I still believe he has natural playmaking talent that can't be taught and that it can be utilized if given a chance, but he is yet another example of how the NBA is changing. Small guards that can't play defense are on thin ice around the league more than ever. If they can't play efficient, smart basketball, then they're fading out of rotations in droves, so unfortunately, it's now an uphill battle for Rob Dillingham to make his way back in. The next player we'll be discussing, somehow still an available free agent at the start of training camp, is Seth Curry. Seth Curry is the first one on this list that I can acknowledge is definitely on his last legs and is not as big of a surprise to see him unsigned at the moment, but I do still believe he can make an impact based on real production of his and not purely on an estimation of upside like the last couple we've discussed so far. Seth Curry does fall into the same category as the others, though, as a slightly smaller guard who isn't going to provide much positive defense out on the perimeter, but unlike the others, he actually does one of the most important aspects of the game of basketball at an elite level to this day, and that is shooting the ball. Seth Curry has been in the NBA full-time for 10 seasons, and in all but one of those seasons, he has shot above 40% from 3. In fact, in 8 of those 10 seasons, Seth Curry has shot above 42% from 3, and in 6 of those 10 seasons, he's shot above 45% from 3. Just last season, as a member of the Golden State Warriors, he shot 48% from 3, which albeit was a smaller sample size, but that doesn't make it a fluke based on the long prior track record. He even led the NBA in 3-point percentage in 2025. I'm not going to pretend that I don't understand where NBA teams are coming from with their current line of thinking. They are objectively the most expendable players, these small guards, but it gets to a point where actual talent gets overlooked for guys who may check more boxes on paper, but are just worse basketball players. I know for a fact that there are some teams out there right now that could use more help in the shooting department, trotting out lineups desperate for some shooting. Seth Curry is not going to hold up physically in a big role at his age like he used to, but he can still give you 10-12 minutes a night off the bench in a rotation and change a game by catching fire from 3, and that does mean something. And finally, the last player we'll be discussing, somehow not signed to an NBA roster at the start of training camp, is Kelly Olynyk. Olynyk is a veteran big man that has been in the NBA for 13 years, and with him being 35 years old, he is also nearing the end of his career. He's had a long track record of providing solid output as a stretch big man in the NBA, shooting above average from 3 most years. He's sneakily skilled as a scorer in the post, he's a solid rebounder, and he's actually a sneakily skilled passer for this center position as well, so he's been trusted in countless teams' rotations because he plays the game very smartly and under control. He has a lot of experience, he's a great locker room presence, and last year he was on the San Antonio Spurs for exactly that purpose, helping out as a mentor to rising superstar Victor Wembenyama. The importance of experienced veteran talent in NBA locker rooms has seemingly been forgotten about in today's league, but it really can be vital to the early experience of young talent as they find their footing. Having someone they can go to for guidance, and to see how someone approaches things after all these years helps form good habits for the next generation that just don't know any better. That's what Kelly Olynyk can be at this point in his career, and on top of that, he does still have a useful skill set if necessary as a stretch big man. All of these guys can still be useful in different ways, and as we have discussed today for varying reasons, they're all surprisingly still without a team with the season right around the corner. And with that being said, that's all I have for you today. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and comment down below what you think about these players and where they could possibly fit in. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you all next time.