5 top-remaining NBA free agents that would be perfect last-minute adds to a contender

1) Isaac Okoro

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro is still a restricted free agent, and it appears increasingly unlikely that another team will offer him a significant contract. Especially after the Utah Jazz used most of their remaining $34 million in cap space to renegotiate and extend Lauri Markkanen.

Without another team to offer a big contract, he is essentially left waiting for the Cavs to offer him something close to what he wants, something that they have no reason to do. Okoro can always take his qualifying offer of $11.8 million and play out the 2024-25 season on basically a one-year deal before hitting unrestricted free agency.

That is risky since he hasn't gotten any major offers in restricted free agency, though teams are usually hesitant to do so since they are often forced to overpay to scare the incumbent team from matching. Even then, it doesn't often work. The more likely outcome at this point is that the Cavs will either re-sign him or sign-and-trade Okoro to an interested team.

Or they can re-sign him to a two- or three-year deal worth a bit less than what he wanted, which would allow him to still get paid and hit unrestricted free agency sooner. It would also give the Cavs more time to move him, with his new salary being useful in a trade. In the meantime, Okoro is left to wait and hope that something happens soon.