10 Players Having Career Years Ahead Of Free Agency

There will be at least a handful of high-level free agents this offseason who score significant paydays, but it may not be a great time for mid-level free agents to reach the open market.

Cap space will be scarce around the NBA and over-the-cap teams have shown an increasing willingness to preserve their mid-level exceptions until later in the league year, especially now that they can be used to acquire players via trade. Additionally, concerns about the punitive impact of the tax aprons will prompt several clubs to be cautious about their spending, or even to shed salary rather than further increasing their payrolls.

Those factors may result in certain second- or third-tier free agents being squeezed this summer and signing for less than expected. There's not necessarily a lot that a free-agent-to-be can do about that -- it's just the reality of the market.

Of course, one way for a player to reassert some control in the process and to reduce the risk of a disappointing foray into free agency is to play the best basketball of his career in the months before his contract expires.

With few impact players likely to change teams via free agency this summer, mid-level free agents who show out in their contract years should attract the interest of would-be contenders on the lookout for a missing piece, putting themselves in position to receive a fair slice of what could be a limited pie.

Here are 10 NBA players who are enjoying contract years ahead of 2025 free agency:

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