We know NBA careers are finite, but several players seem to have been pushed toward the end of the line too hastily this offseason. Here, we'll highlight the ones who deserve a chance to prove they've still got plenty to give.
Every one of the players we'll feature is currently unsigned and available. Their origin stories run the gamut from top overall pick to undrafted free agent, but all of them were full-time starters at one point or another. That they're featured here isn't an argument that these players deserve a return to prominence as first-unit contributors. Instead, we're simply saying each of them has enough of a track record—even recently—to justify a roster spot.
Age or specific skill deficits may be turning teams off, but these guys aren't done just yet.
Markelle Fultz
Despite their need for offensive facilitation, the Orlando Magic have yet to bring back free agent and former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz. That's a pretty strong indictment of the point guard's shaky shooting and spotty health record, and it raises the possibility that Fultz is in danger of falling out of the league entirely.
Though his career mark of 27.4 percent from three-point range basically precludes Fultz from ever featuring in a closing lineup on a big-time winner, it's not as if he can't help in other ways. Remember, it was only 2022-23 when Fultz averaged 14.0 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 51.4 percent from the field in 60 starts for Orlando.
Plenty of teams could use production like that in a backup role, even when pricing in the likelihood that Fultz will miss significant time. He's played fewer than 50 games in five of his seven NBA seasons.
Though he hasn't graded out as a positively impactful defender since his rookie year, Fultz has good length for his position and has posted steal rates high enough to rank in the 88th percentile or better across the last three seasons. If a team were to take him off the ball more and slot him into a slashing and finishing role, perhaps Fultz could redirect the energy savings to more consistent defensive work.
Young teams in need of steadying facilitation should be interested, as should more established squads who might gamble on a once-prized prospect. We've seen those types of talents—Shaun Livingston, Dante Exum, Kris Dunn—reinvent themselves as role-players later on in their careers. Fultz, still just 26, could do the same in the right environment.
