Top 10 NBA Remaining Buyout Candidates
A number of others who have been bought out or waived still remain unsigned, including Lonzo Ball, Chris Boucher, Eric Gordon, Haywood Highsmith, Georges Niang, Mason Plumlee, and Dario Saric.
But there are a number of other potential buyout candidates, according to several sources, and the list looks like this:
- Chris Paul
- Russell Westbrook
- D'Angelo Russell
- Marvin Bagley III
- DeAndre Jordan
- Kevon Looney
- Kevin Love
- Khris Middleton
- Jusuf Nurkic
- Kelly Olynyk
Two of the game's all-time greatest point guards, Chris Paul and Russ, are on this list. CP3 is officially on the Toronto Raptors roster after a trade at the deadline. But Toronto told him immediately not to report, and a buyout or simply waiving him is likely.
Westbrook is having a fine season for the Sacramento Kings (15.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game), but they are not interesting in winning the rest of this season, and will start benching some of their high-priced talent to continue tanking for the best possible position in the draft lottery. A buyout of Westbrook, who's only on a one-year, minimum contract, would make sense.
Another veteran point guard, D'Lo, is not reporting to the Washington Wizards, to whom he was traded at the deadline. A buyout is a distinct possibility there.
Middleton says he's more focused on basketball than buyouts with his new team in Dallas.
A number of big men are on the list, from Jordan and Looney to Nurkic and Olynyk. At $16M, and playing only 13 minutes a night, Looney is likely not long for New Orleans. If Nurkic were to somehow hit the market while averaging a double-double, there would be plenty of interest for him. However, with Thursday's announcement that Jaren Jackson Jr. is going out for the season with surgery, the Jazz may need to keep Nurk around, tanking or no tanking.
We'll be keeping an eye on the buyout wire over the next several days.
Photo: © Dennis Lee-Imagn Images
