{"id":178690,"date":"2025-07-18T07:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T07:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/178690\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T07:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T07:19:10","slug":"top-nba-free-agent-point-guards-damian-lillard-returns-to-the-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/178690\/","title":{"rendered":"Top NBA free-agent point guards: Damian Lillard returns to the Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damian Lillard being waived<\/a> by the Milwaukee Bucks under the stretch provision certainly changed the landscape for the Bucks, who used the flexibility to sign free-agent center Myles Turner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Lillard’s availability also impacted the free-agent market. A number of teams pursued him even though he will not play next season. He ultimately agreed to return to the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> on a three-year, $42 million contract.<\/p>\n

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Let’s look at the rest of the point guard free-agent market.<\/p>\n

(Note: Positions are being determined off Basketball-Reference’s positional breakdowns, meaning a player will be listed at the position in which he played the most minutes. So if you’re looking for James Harden and Kyrie Irving, you’ll find them in the shooting guard section.)<\/p>\n

Free-agent position rankings: Shooting guards<\/a> | Small forwards<\/a> | Power forwards<\/a> | Centers<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Fred VanVleet, Houston Rockets<\/p>\n

Status: Agreed to a 2-year, $50 million deal<\/p>\n

Since becoming an All-Star in 2022, VanVleet has seen his scoring diminish every year since. That doesn’t mean he isn’t important to the Rockets as their main facilitator, but almost $45 million for a guy who barely cracked 14 points and didn’t even crack 38% shooting overall is a lot.<\/p>\n

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Given that this year’s market flat-out isn’t flush with cash, the Rockets were wise to decline the $44.9 million option and negotiate a deal at a lesser price.<\/p>\n

2. Chris Paul, San Antonio Spurs<\/p>\n

Status: Unrestricted free agent<\/p>\n

Paul loved his stay in San Antonio, which is worth noting in terms of his future, but the franchise did not make the postseason, which you have to assume is a priority to him.<\/p>\n

Also a priority is spending time with his family, which means he’s likely exploring all angles. At 40 years old, could one of those options be retirement?<\/p>\n

What makes sense: With Paul residing in California, and the Lakers acquiring Luka Don\u010di\u0107 this past season, it may make sense to link up with him and LeBron James, the latter of whom is a close friend.<\/p>\n

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4. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers<\/p>\n

Status: Agreed to a 3-year, $42 million deal<\/p>\n

Lillard unexpectedly his the free-agent market while also rehabbing a torn Achilles. That didn’t matter to the Trail Blazers, who were interested in bringing back one of the greatest players in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Lillard is a future Hall of Famer and one of the best shooters in league history. He also isn’t going to play next season while he recovers.<\/p>\n

3. Tyus Jones, Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

Status: Agreed to a 1-year, $7 million deal<\/p>\n

Jones’ plan of signing with the Suns for a starting role and perhaps competing for a title didn’t go as planned as Phoenix failed to make the postseason. Could this influence his value? Given that he signed a minimum deal last summer, the arrow only points up.<\/p>\n

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The 29-year-old remains one of the league’s most secure ball-handlers and a strong 3-point shooter (41.4%), which virtually everyone has a use for.<\/p>\n

Being a backup point guard on a good Magic team is a fine role for Jones.<\/p>\n

4. Josh Giddey, Chicago Bulls<\/p>\n

Status: Restricted free agent<\/p>\n

The raw numbers make Giddey look like a future All-Star, but the advanced numbers unearth several concerning areas, such as a general shooting inefficiency and defensive issues \u2014 two key elements for most highly paid players in today’s league.<\/p>\n

Chicago, however, appears to love the guy, which raises the question: Will it make him an offer outright, as opposed to letting him go through restricted free agency? If the Bulls jump the gun, that could add several million onto the books.<\/p>\n

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What makes sense: The Bulls hold all the cards here. Entering free agency believing otherwise could prove catastrophic. Let someone else dictate his market, because odds are good no one will break the bank for him despite the headline-grabbing stats.<\/p>\n

5. Ty Jerome, Memphis Grizzlies<\/p>\n

Status: Agreed to a 3-year, $28 million deal<\/p>\n

There’s no question Jerome turned in one of the most surprising seasons of any player in the league, as he carved out a role for himself on one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, thus significantly raising his own value.<\/p>\n

Jerome will add depth and shooting to the Grizzlies’ backcourt as they retool around the newly extended Jaren Jackson Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Best of the rest6. Malcolm Brogdon, Washington Wizards<\/p>\n

Status: Unrestricted free agent<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old is efficient and effective when on the floor, but his injury history indicates his floor time will be limited. Teams are keenly aware of this, so while he’ll have several suitors, don’t expect anyone to hand out a large contract. He’d make an interesting fit with the Lakers as a backup to Luka Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n

7. D’Angelo Russell, Dallas Mavericks<\/p>\n

Status: Agreed to a 2-year, $13 million deal<\/p>\n

Russell has reached the point in his career, where the secret is out. He’s not year-to-year consistent in his performance, and his defensive warts remain substantial. He can score a bit, shoot a bit and pass a bit, but rarely put it all together.<\/p>\n

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8. Dennis Schr\u00f6der, Sacramento Kings<\/p>\n

Status: Agreed to a 3-year, $45 million deal<\/p>\n

Schr\u00f6der is capable, he’s fast and he can get you points if you need them, even if you need them at a scaled up capacity.<\/p>\n

However, he remains an iffy shooter, his defense isn’t what it once was, and he’s getting older.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damian Lillard being waived by the Milwaukee Bucks under the stretch provision certainly changed the landscape for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,329,2596,149,125,1024,866,23931,194,965,300,185,368,2729,177,121,367,6,76,471,477,969,474,604,1201,6279,11015,468],"class_list":{"0":"post-178690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-chicago-bulls","10":"tag-chris-paul","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-damian-lillard","13":"tag-dennis-schroder","14":"tag-fred-vanvleet","15":"tag-free-agent-market","16":"tag-houston-rockets","17":"tag-josh-giddey","18":"tag-lakers","19":"tag-lebron-james","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-malcolm-brogdon","22":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","23":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","24":"tag-myles-turner","25":"tag-nba","26":"tag-orlando-magic","27":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","28":"tag-sacramento-kings","29":"tag-san-antonio","30":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","31":"tag-suns","32":"tag-ty-jerome","33":"tag-tyus-jones","34":"tag-unrestricted-free-agent","35":"tag-washington-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114873025419478066","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}