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2022 NBA Free Agent Position Series: Power Forwards

By: Keith SmithPublished: June 26, 2022

Spotrac’s Free Agent by Position Series

Point Guards | Shooting Guards | Small Forwards | Power Forwards | Centers

2022 NBA free agency is right around the corner. This isn’t considered to be a blockbuster free agent class, but there are several impact players available. In these rankings, we took a similar approach to the one many teams use when it comes to ranking available players. Each position was broken down into tiers. The tiers are:

All-Star: These aren’t all necessarily All-Stars, but they have the ability to be an All-Star
Starters: These players are either starters or they produce at a starter-level of impact
Rotation: These are solid players that should be in a team’s regular season rotation
Fringe: These are players at the end of the bench or Two-Way players largely in the G League

Players were then ranked within their tiers. All potential free agents have been ranked, including those with pending options.

All-Star Tier

None. No players classified as small forwards have consistently established themselves as All-Star level talents.

Starter Tier

1. Bobby Portis – Milwaukee Bucks (unrestricted – player option): Portis is the best “available” power forward. The reason he’s only “available” is because everyone believes he’ll opt out and re-sign with the Bucks. Portis is solid as either a starter or a reserve as one of the better stretch-4 options in the league. Milwaukee will be happy to have him back.
2. P.J. Tucker – Miami Heat (unrestricted): Tucker is opting out of his deal with the Heat to see what else is out there. He remains a very good defender and a dependable threat on corner threes. Tucker’s next deal is as much about adding a couple more years of guaranteed salary as it is securing the most money possible.
3. Kyle Anderson – Memphis Grizzlies (unrestricted): Anderson could get caught up in the forward crunch in Memphis. The Grizzlies have a lot of players that play both forward spots, as Anderson does. If so, some other team is going to get a really productive combo-forward for their bench. He’ll be an MLE target for several contenders.
4. Otto Porter Jr. – Golden State Warriors (unrestricted): In a very real sense, the Warriors are going to have to choose between Porter and Gary Payton II this summer. Only one of them can get the Taxpayer MLE. Despite Porter finding his game again after a couple of down years, Payton fills a bigger need for the champs. That should make Porter available for those teams looking to take Golden State down next season.
5. Montrezl Harrell – Charlotte Hornets (unrestricted): Harrell is ideally more of a five than a four, but he primarily played the four last season in both Washington and Charlotte. His recent arrest makes his free agency a bit cloudy. Harrell’s lack of a perimeter game is also starting to squeeze his options.

Rotation Tier

1. Chris Boucher – Toronto Raptors (unrestricted): How much you buy into Boucher as a player depends on if you think 2021 or 2022 was his real ceiling. Two years ago, Boucher was excellent as a stretch-4/5. He blocked shots, finished at the rim and shot well from behind the arc. Last season, that all dropped off some. Someone will pay Boucher, then it’s up to him to make that a good or bad deal.
2. Marvin Bagley III – Detroit Pistons (restricted): Detroit will likely re-sign Bagley. This might be one of the earlier deals agreed to, as well. Then the Pistons can renounce Bagley’s large cap hold, while saving a chunk of cap space for him. He was better in Detroit than most of his Sacramento tenure, and he fits in with the young Pistons.
3. Trey Lyles – Sacramento Kings (unrestricted – team option): The Kings should pick up Lyles’ option. He’s become a very solid stretch-4/5 and his contract is beyond reasonable at $2.6 million. This decision may give us insight into how far Sacramento has come with making sound personnel decisions.
4. Isaiah Roby – Oklahoma City Thunder (restricted – team option): Roby is coming off an extremely productive third season for the Thunder. He averaged 10.1 points on 51.4% shooting from the field, including an incredible 44.4% from behind the arc. If that shooting is for real, Roby is going to be a steal for OKC (if they pick up their team option) or for another team (if the Thunder decline their option).
5. Carmelo Anthony – Los Angeles Lakers (unrestricted): Even during his age-37 season, Anthony remained productive for the Lakers. He scored 13.3 points per game off the bench on pretty good efficiency. If Anthony wants to play a 20th season, he’ll likely do it off the Lakers bench again.
6. Thaddeus Young – Toronto Raptors (unrestricted): Young was solid for the Raptors after they acquired him at the trade deadline. He’s got enough left to give a contender 10-15 minutes a night off the bench.
7. Taurean Prince – Minnesota Timberwolves (unrestricted): Prince’s role was reduced, but his efficiency went way up with the Wolves last year. That’s probably a sign of what his role should be moving forward. Contenders looking for 3/4 depth could do worse than signing Prince to come off their bench.
8. Nemanja Bjelica – Golden State Warriors (unrestricted): Bjelica won a championship playing for the veteran minimum last season. He might like to cash in on a bigger deal, but at 34 years old, it’s hard to see Bjelica getting much more. He should re-sign with the Warriors and run it back as depth option for Steve Kerr.
9. Blake Griffin – Brooklyn Nets (unrestricted): Griffin had a resurgence when he joined the Nets in 2021 after a buyout with the Pistons. By the end of last season. Griffin was out of the rotation for Brooklyn. Someone will give him another deal for the minimum and hope they can get one more productive season out Griffin.

Fringe Tier (unranked and presented in alphabetical order)

- Devontae Cacok – San Antonio Spurs (restricted)
- Vlatko Cancar – Denver Nuggets (restricted)
- Tyler Cook – Chicago Bulls (restricted – Two-Way)
- Wenyen Gabriel – Los Angeles Lakers (unrestricted – team option)
- Udonis Haslem – Miami Heat (unrestricted)
- Luke Kornet – Boston Celtics (unrestricted)
- Paul Millsap – Philadelphia 76ers (unrestricted)
- Juwan Morgan – Boston Celtics (restricted – team option)
- Markieff Morris – Miami Hat (unrestricted)
- Eric Paschall – Utah Jazz (restricted)
- Jamorko Pickett – Detroit Pistons (restricted – Two-Way)
- Moses Wright – Dallas Mavericks (restricted – Two-Way)