The big stories of NBA free agency in recent years have been centered around player movement—but more trades than free agent signings. Superstar players never hit the open market anymore because they can usually make significantly more money signing with their current teams; most sign for as much as possible and force their way out later if they become unhappy with their current home. The era of player movement has been going on for a long time, but the era of significant player movement as free agents ended years ago.
Still, every year there are good players in free agency. There are no more LeBron Jameses, but there are plenty of Tobias Harrises and Fred VanVleets, role players who wind up perfect fits for their new teams and make a big impact the following season. They aren’t splashy signings most of the time, but they are necessary for an organization to make a jump, big or small, over the next year.
This free agency period has several of those kinds of signings. Here are four of the best fits from NBA free agency 2025.
Dorian Finney-Smith, Houston Rockets
Signed a four-year, $53 million contract
The Rockets landing Kevin Durant via trade was the headline acquisition of NBA free agency, but stealing Finney-Smith away from the Los Angeles Lakers may prove nearly as important.
Finney-Smith is a classic 3-and-D role player. Every contending team needs at least one such player. The absence of that was one of the flaws of the Rockets last season. Dillon Brooks did a great approximation by shooting 39.7% from deep while taking on the opposing best scorer, but the chaos factor of his game made it hard to rely upon him to do the little things night after night. And, obviously, Houston moved Brooks in the Durant trade, leaving the roster without anybody close to that archetype.
Finney-Smith then fits into the roster like a glove. The Lakers were much better on both ends during his minutes on the floor after acquiring him at the trade deadline. According to PBPStats, Los Angeles posted a 122.78 offensive rating and 111.82 defensive rating in Finney-Smith’s 1,242 minutes played, good for a positive net rating of 10.96. When he was off the court? His team recorded an offensive rating of 113.38 and a defensive rating of 116.32—a negative net rating of 2.94. Those numbers do not tell the entire story of the Lakers’ season, but they do reflect Finney-Smith’s ability to make the game easier for everybody around him. He can more than hold his own defensively and make room for others to operate as a shooting threat offensively.
That last point has been the most important development for Finney-Smith over the last few years. If left in a position to create his own shot, Finney-Smith will struggle. But when all he has to do is space the floor and stay ready for a pass? He turns into a weapon. He averaged 6.4 shots per game for the Lakers; 4.6 of those were catch-and-shoot opportunities from three. On those field goal attempts, Finney-Smith shot 40.2%. He did play with two of the NBA’s most gifted drive-and-kick players in LeBron James and Luka Dončić, but any player who can guard well and shoot 40% from deep when the ball gets swung his way by a superstar is incredibly valuable.
All that plus his experience and veteran locker room presence make Finney-Smith an excellent addition for the Rockets. He brings playoff-caliber skills, and if he brings intangibles off the court, even better. Durant, Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun are the stars of the team, but Finney-Smith should prove to be irreplaceable.
Myles Turner, Milwaukee Bucks
Signed a four-year, $107 million contract
Turner heading north to Milwaukee served as the most unexpected signing in free agency by a long shot. Few thought the Indiana Pacers would allow Turner to walk out the door after the team’s first NBA Finals run in decades, and entering free agency the Bucks were not capable financially of mustering up a competitive offer. But then they waived and stretched Damian Lillard’s albatross deal before offering Turner a big-time contract that will pay him north of $25 million annually. He happily accepted. Opinions will vary on whether this was the best way for the Bucks to spend their newfound money, but Turner is a great fit on the team.
It is no coincidence that, after all, Giannis Antetokounmpo was fully unlocked as an MVP and Defensive Player of the Year–caliber superstar in 2018. That’s the same year Brook Lopez came into the fold. Lopez’s ability to protect the rim as a traditional big man while stretching the floor and opening up the paint for Antetokounmpo on the other end accentuated all of Antetokounmpo’s best traits while making the game easier for him in pretty much every regard. Opposing defenses couldn’t park their center near the basket where he likes to operate, while having a capable defensive center permitted Antetokounmpo to roam as an off-ball threat. That combination, more than anything, helped propel Milwaukee to a championship.
Unfortunately, Lopez got old. He became much more vulnerable in pick-and-roll coverage and took fewer three-point attempts in his age-37 season. The Bucks waved goodbye to him as he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency, but Turner is a younger, better version of Lopez. That makes him a hand-in-glove fit with Milwaukee. The team doesn’t even need to work very hard to create a role for Turner. Just show him tape of Lopez and tell him to do that for a season, and the Bucks will feel like he’s earned his money.
Turner shot 39.7% from three last season and ranked third in the NBA with 2.0 blocks per game. He is susceptible to painful cold streaks offensively, as the Finals showed, and his last few seasons have been a bit of a decline defensively. But his skill set is rare. Only one other player in the entire league averaged two blocks and more than one three-pointer made per game—Victor Wembanyama.
One can debate for the entire offseason whether the Bucks are better than they were before. But as far as players who fit into the scheme, what Milwaukee wants to do, and make life easier for the two-time MVP on the roster, there’s no one better than Turner.
Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Atlanta Hawks
Signed a four-year, $60 million contract
The Hawks were big players over the last few weeks as the newly minted front office, headed up by Onsi Saleh surveyed the landscape of the Eastern Conference and came to the conclusion that the 2025–26 season was an opportunity. With the Celtics, Bucks and Pacers all losing superstars to injury, the Knicks firing their head coach, and the Cavaliers crashing and burning (again), there is no presumptive favorite entering the season. So Atlanta decided to throw its hat in the ring, first by trading for Kristaps Porziņģis; that could work out very well in a contract year but the Latvian big man is obviously unreliable health-wise. The move with more impact, then, will be signing Alexander-Walker away from the Timberwolves.
Alexander-Walker seems to be a perfect backcourt partner for Trae Young, the exact player the organization has been searching for since Young ascended to stardom. First and foremost, he is a very good defender. The Wolves had a 110.87 defensive rating when he was on the court compared to 112.60 when he was off, and the relatively minor difference speaks to the talented defenders surrounding Alexander-Walker than any flaw of his own. He can struggle with scoring forwards given his relatively slim frame, but his length allows him to defend up a position or two and he can completely envelop opposing guards more often than not. That is a crucial trait for any partner of Young’s to have since he has to be hidden on the weakest opponent every defensive possession.
The Hawks had that before with Dejounte Murray, and even still had it with Dyson Daniels. But neither is as clean a fit as Alexander-Walker on the other end. Murray was too ball-dominant to really serve as a complement to Young’s; Daniels is still a big work-in-progress across the board offensively. But Alexander-Walker should find life very easy playing with Young, and his skill set will make everyone else’s life easier, too. He’s accustomed to playing off a ball-dominant superstar, given his time with Anthony Edwards, and has developed into a quality three-point shooter while in Minnesota. He shot 38.1% from beyond the arc last season; just as importantly, he drained 42.5% of his catch-and-shoot three-point opportunities.
Alexander-Walker is not likely to become an offensive engine unto himself, and Atlanta might find itself disappointed if the team overly relies on him for scoring when Young is on the bench. But the Hawks also know how tricky it is to find someone who can cover for their franchise star’s weaknesses defensively and still add value offensively. They found that player at a good price point in Alexander-Walker, and at 26 years old there could be room to grow for him yet. A quality marriage of team and player here.
Bruce Brown, Denver Nuggets
Signed a one-year, $3 million contract
After a few years of wandering the basketball wilderness, the prodigal son has returned to Denver. Brown, hitting unrestricted free agency for the first time since capturing the hearts of Nuggets fans en route to the franchise’s first championship, signed a veteran minimum deal to play alongside Nikola Jokić once more. It’s a great situation for Brown; he was able to cash in on his championship run to the tune of $45 million in earnings over the last two seasons, and now comes back to a contender in a key role. It’s a better situation for the Nuggets, who needed a player to provide exactly what Brown did in the 2023 playoffs.
Brown makes for a seamless fit on the roster because he is effectively taking over the role Russell Westbrook had for Denver last season. Westbrook averaged 13.3 points in 27.9 minutes per game off the bench for the Nuggets and played pretty well alongside Jokić. But he failed to hold down the fort with Jokic on the bench. In 752 minutes with Westbrook on the court and Jokic off in 2024–25, the Nuggets recorded a negative 14.04 net rating. It’s long been an issue for Denver to limit the damage when Jokic has to rest. As is the case across the league, it’s rather wishful thinking to believe the team can win the minutes the superstar is on the bench. But they lost those minutes to an unmanageable degree last season when trusting Westbrook to run the show. This proved especially true in the postseason, where minutes featuring Westbrook and no Jokic resulted in an even worse net rating than the regular-season numbers.
Brown’s return gives them a much better shot at limiting that damage. During the team’s 2023 postseason run, the Nuggets were not just good but great with Brown on the floor and Jokić on the bench; in 146 such minutes Denver put up a 9.18 net rating. It was a huge reason why they won the title and a key aspect of any championship contention—you don’t have to win non-superstar minutes by a big margin, but you cannot lose them by a big margin. The Nuggets lost the non-Jokić minutes big time last season and it proved their undoing.
Brown has two more seasons of wear and tear on his legs and hasn’t played all that well since leaving Denver. He averaged 8.3 points in 22.5 minutes per game last season and missed half the year with injuries. But it’s a good bet to believe he can thrive once more in the place where he had the best year of his career. The Nuggets don’t even need him to be as good as he was before. Just a bit better than Westbrook. And that feels well within reach, making this a great arrangement for both sides.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Four Best Fits in NBA Free Agency.
