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Stephen Curry (left) will be a free agent in 2027, but will LeBron James join him as one as well?<\/p>\n
With 2026 free agency<\/a> winding down, it\u2019s time to look ahead to what players could be free agents in 2027.<\/p>\n The list includes several all-time great players as well as some key contributors on title contenders.<\/p>\n Several of the players listed below may sign contract extensions before they hit free agency. But here are players who, if they don\u2019t sign an extension, will be free agents in 2027\u2026<\/p>\n 1. The class of 2023<\/p>\n Players selected in the first round of the 2023 Draft<\/a> will be restricted free agents in 2027\u2026<\/p>\n As long as they had the third and fourth-year options on their rookie contracts exercised.<\/p>\n Unless they sign an extension between now and the start of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n There were seven players in the first round of the 2023 Draft<\/a> who didn\u2019t have their options picked up, with Jett Howard (No. 11 pick), Kobe Bufkin (No. 15) and Jalen Hood-Schifino (No. 17) being the three that were drafted in the top 20. That leaves 23 players who could negotiate and sign rookie extensions this summer.<\/p>\n At this point, Victor Wembanyama is the only one of the 23 that has agreed to an extension<\/a>. Other key players from the class of 2023 include \u2026<\/p>\n Brandon Miller (CHA) \u2013 No. 2 pick<\/p>\n Amen Thompson (HOU) \u2013 No. 4 pick<\/p>\n Ausar Thompson (DET) \u2013 No. 5 pick<\/p>\n Cason Wallace (OKC) \u2013 No. 10 pick<\/p>\n Keyonte George (UTA) \u2013 No. 16 pick<\/p>\n Last year, nine of 22 eligible players signed rookie extensions. If they don\u2019t happen early in the summer, they generally get done in the last few days before the start of the season.<\/p>\n 2. Unrestricted free agents Brooklyn\u2019s Michael Porter Jr. is a name to watch in free agency next summer.<\/p>\n 1. LeBron James (Team TBD)<\/p>\n If the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer signs a one-year contract with his new team and doesn\u2019t announce his retirement after Season 24, he\u2019ll be an unrestricted free agent again in 2027.<\/p>\n T-3. Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)<\/p>\n The best shooter in NBA history is still an impact player. He\u2019ll be 39 next summer, but no player in the league has more gravity when he\u2019s off the ball.<\/p>\n T-3. Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers\/Toronto)<\/p>\n Leonard will turn 36 next summer, but he played 65 games last season and was one of only three qualified players \u2013 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Joki\u0107 were the others \u2013 that averaged at least 27 points with a true shooting percentage of 62% or better last season.<\/p>\n 4. Michael Porter Jr. (Brooklyn Nets)<\/p>\n Porter (29 next summer) saw a huge jump in usage rate<\/a> upon his move to Brooklyn, and his efficiency<\/a> didn\u2019t suffer much.<\/p>\n 5. Tyler Herro (Milwaukee Bucks)<\/p>\n Herro has seen a significant jump in efficiency<\/a> over the last two seasons, but he played just 33 games in 2025-26.<\/p>\n 6. RJ Barrett (Toronto Raptors)<\/p>\n Barrett is coming off the most efficient season<\/a> of his career, and he was terrific in the playoffs, averaging 24.1 points<\/a> on a true shooting percentage of 56.3%.<\/p>\n 7. CJ McCollum (Atlanta Hawks)<\/p>\n McCollum showed in the playoffs that he can still get big buckets in big moments, but he signed just a one-year extension with the Hawks before free agency began this year. So he\u2019ll be up for a new deal again in 2027, and he\u2019ll be 36 when the \u201927-28 season begins.<\/p>\n 8. Luguentz Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder)<\/p>\n Dort has been a critical piece for the league\u2019s best team over the last three years, and the Thunder exercised his team option for \u201926-27. But shedding role-player salary may be necessary in the next 12 months.<\/p>\n 9. Fred VanVleet (Houston Rockets)<\/p>\n It\u2019s still been less than a year (Sept. 2025) since VanVleet tore his ACL, and it will be fascinating to see if he was the missing ingredient for the Rockets last season.<\/p>\n 10. Jimmy Butler (Jimmy Butler)<\/p>\n Butler tore his ACL in January, and he\u2019ll be 38 at the start of the 2027-28 season, but he did average an efficient 20 points per game<\/a> (in 38 games) before getting hurt.<\/p>\n More: Saddiq Bey (NOP), Miles Bridges (PHX), Dillon Brooks (PHX), Moussa Diabat\u00e9 (CHA), Donte DiVincenzo (MIN), Cam Johnson (DEN), Keldon Johnson (SAS), Kyle Kuzma (MIL), Zach LaVine (SAC), Miles McBride (NYK), Davion Mitchell (MIA), Max Strus (CLE)<\/p>\n 3. Player options New Heat star Giannis Antetokounmpo has a player option on his deal for the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n These players have options in their contracts for the 2027-28 season. If they exercise it (likely if it\u2019s for a player-friendly salary), they\u2019re under contract until 2028. If they decline it, they\u2019re unrestricted free agents in 2027.<\/p>\n 1. Nikola Joki\u0107 (Denver Nuggets)<\/p>\n The three-time Kia MVP has said he wants to play his entire career in Denver, and the time for his next contract extension is next summer. He\u2019s coming off a historical season in which he became the first player to lead the league in both rebounds<\/a> and assists<\/a> per game.<\/p>\n 2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Miami Heat)<\/p>\n It\u2019s highly unlikely that Antetokounmpo hits free agency, though he might not sign an extension until January. It will likely keep him under contract through the 2030-31 season, during which he\u2019ll turn 36.<\/p>\n 3. Karl-Anthony Towns (New York Knicks)<\/p>\n The Knicks are champions and the big winners in the trade that brought Towns to New York less than two years ago. Mitchell Robinson is gone, which means Towns\u2019 health, defense and rebounding will be a little more important than they were last season.<\/p>\n 4. Kevin Durant (Houston Rockets)<\/p>\n Durant will be 39 by the start of the \u201927-28 season, but he remains a remarkably efficient, high-volume scorer. With this past season having been a bit disappointing, it\u2019s a huge year for the Rockets.<\/p>\n 5. Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves)<\/p>\n The Wolves have undergone big changes, and with the departures of Julius Randle<\/a> and Naz Reid<\/a>, Gobert is even more important than he has been over the last four seasons. He\u2019s the biggest reason why the team has had the league\u2019s third-best defense over his time in Minnesota.<\/p>\n 6. Kyrie Irving (Dallas Mavericks)<\/p>\n Irving could be a trade candidate before he hits free agency if the Mavs don\u2019t feel he fits with their Cooper Flagg timeline. But other teams may want to see how well he\u2019s recovered from his torn ACL in March of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7. Anthony Davis (Washington Wizards)<\/p>\n Unless he has a huge, bounce-back season after playing only 20 games in \u201925-26, it seems likely that Davis will exercise his $63-million player option for \u201927-28.<\/p>\n 8. Brandon Ingram (Toronto\/LA Clippers)<\/p>\n Is Ingram part of the Clippers\u2019 long-term plans, or was his inclusion in the Leonard trade mostly about his salary? The Clippers are somewhat of a motley crew at this point (assuming the trade eventually goes through), and it will be fascinating to see how competitive they are in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n 9. Ty Jerome (Memphis Grizzlies)<\/p>\n Jerome played in just 15 (low-leverage) games this past season. But if he can repeat his production (19.7 points and 5.7 assists in just 22.6 minutes per game<\/a>) with a larger sample size, he could be in for a nice payday a year from now. His \u201927-28 player option is for just $9.7 million.<\/p>\n More: Grayson Allen (CHA), Deandre Ayton (WAS), Paul George (BOS), Jerami Grant (MEM), Jalen Green (PHX), Jrue Holiday (POR), Luke Kennard (PHX), Damian Lillard (POR), Dejounte Murray (NOP), Julius Randle (BKN), Anfernee Simons (PHI)<\/p>\n 4. Team options<\/p>\n Useful players on team options usually get their option exercised so that they remain under contract for another year. It seems doubtful that many (or any) of the following players will become free agents in 2027 \u2026<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find his\u00a0archive here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0follow him on Bluesky.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Curry (left) will be a free agent in 2027, but will LeBron James join him as one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[376078,64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-802313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-2027-nba-free-agents","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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