NBA: Top 25 Free Agent Signings of All-Time

By Bryce Olin | Dec 2, 2014

Jun 15, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) during the first quarter in game five of the 2014 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

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25. Cazzie Russell, Chicago Bulls

NBA Free Agency, likely, wouldn’t be the same without Cazzie Russell.

At the end of his career, Russell was the first player ever to test the free agency market. He signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls.

Although he’s not one of the best free agents of all-time, he was the first, and that matters in the grand scheme of every things in the NBA. If Russell would not have tried free agency, someone else would have and the process would be almost exactly the same as it is today. Still, you have to honor the NBA’s great trailblazers, and no, I’m not talking about the team from Portland, although they are my favorite team.

Next: 24. Derek Fisher