NBA Free Agency Matchmaking: Where Five Top Players Should Land

There is plenty of speculation about where stars like Draymond Green and Seth Curry will end up, but which team is truly the best fit?

If there’s one thing the NBA teaches us almost daily, it’s that we generally have no clue what’s going to happen next. That’s especially true during trade and free-agency season, when Chris Paul ends up with the Warriors, and James Harden is rumored to potentially land with the Clippers after many of us figured it’d be between Philly and Houston for his services.

But in light of all this, I figured it made sense to take a different approach with this piece: Instead of giving best guesses as to where we think a number of these free-agent players will end up, why not just analyze where we’d like them to end up, be it for stylistic reasons or drama-based ones?

Here’s what we came up with for five players ahead of free agency opening on Friday night.

Bruce Brown: Lakers

For all we know, Brown could command more than the non-taxpayer midlevel that starts at $12.4 million. (He was that great last season.) If that’s the case, it will make things tougher for Denver—who can give Brown only $7.8 million next season—to bring him back. As Brown showed during the Nuggets’ dream season, he is the sort of jack-of-all-trades player who’d fit in virtually any roster—particularly one with a bona fide star or two, giving the defense less ability to focus on his well-timed back-cuts to the hoop. It also wouldn’t hurt to weaken the defending NBA champs, who swept the Lakers this past postseason in the conference finals. To be clear: I don’t think Brown will become better in this role or that he’ll elevate the Lakers beyond where the Nuggets are at this moment. But his departure—really, because of his importance to the Nuggets’ cog—would mean true chaos in a nutty West.

Draymond Green: Kings

Would anyone be all that surprised if Green, shortly after free agency begins, has a deal lined up to return to the Warriors? After all, he’s still just one year removed from having won a fourth NBA title alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and coach Steve Kerr. Plus the guy he punched to begin last season, young star Jordan Poole, has since been traded away. Green has never known anything but Golden State, and it’s hard to imagine him fitting a club any better than the one he already belongs to. But my goodness, would he be a fascinating addition to a club like Sacramento, which desperately needs a defensive ace capable of protecting the rim.

On the surface, his fit next to Domantas Sabonis might not be ideal. He stomped on the Kings’ big man in the playoffs, drawing a suspension, and beyond that, both are often left alone by defenses when preparing to launch jumpers—something that can hamper spacing. (Although Green has played next to Kevon Looney, and they’ve been effective that way.) But the Kings, who play faster than just about anyone, don’t lack for space. And their efficient, handoff-heavy offense—which a great screener and passer like Draymond could replicate at times—would be something Green is familiar with because of his experience with the Warriors. It almost certainly won’t happen, but man, it’d be interesting to see.

Could Green find a home in Sacramento after a contentious postseason series? :: Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Kuzma: Pacers

Indiana, by virtue of who runs the team’s offense, boasts an equal-opportunity attack. All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton almost always ensures the Pacers are getting a good look each time down. But at times it looks like the club—20th in effective field goal rate in clutch moments—could benefit from a veteran who can get his own shot with the game on the line. Kuzma won a championship with the Lakers as a role player but has come into his own in Washington. The efficiency might have dipped some, but his numbers aren’t shabby at all, considering the degree of difficulty on quite a few of his attempts. It won’t be a finishing piece for the Pacers, obviously, but the soon-to-be 28-year-old could easily be a part of the team’s core going forward if he lands there and turns out to be a good fit.

Grant Williams: Kings

Perhaps Williams would be a more realistic target for Sacramento, considering that Green is unlikely to join the franchise. He almost certainly wouldn’t start—the Kings reached an agreement on a three-year, $54 million extension with Harrison Barnes on Thursday—but Sacramento lacked depth and versatile defenders last season. Williams would help check off both boxes. Sacramento enjoyed arguably the best health in the entire league last season, allowing its starting five to jell and compile the most efficient offense in NBA history. It’s not a given that the Kings will hold up as well physically this coming season, though, and Williams would be fantastic insurance from that standpoint, for Barnes, Keegan Murray or reserve Trey Lyles (should he return as a free agent). Such a move might not happen to begin free agency, though; the Celtics laid out a qualifying offer for Williams, making him a restricted free agent, meaning Boston can match any offer laid out for the forward.

Seth Curry: Bucks

Milwaukee certainly has other top priorities—Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez—when free agency begins Friday evening. But with just six players under contract for next season at the moment, the Bucks have to be thinking about how they’ll fill those remaining spots. Curry seems like a no-brainer for a club that’s always looking to juice the amount of space it has around Giannis Antetokounmpo. And from that standpoint, it doesn’t get much better than Curry, who’s coming off a seventh-straight campaign of 40% or better from deep on more than 100 attempts. Curry isn’t known for his ability as a stopper, but the Bucks—with Giannis, Jrue Holiday and possibly Lopez back—are already about as stingy as it gets on defense. Milwaukee would likely be paying Curry, or any other free-agent player of that ilk, from the taxpayer’s midlevel exception.