Outlook for current NBA free agents looking for new homes

By ALAN GOLDSHER
FanDuel

Editor's Note: We're hosting a one-day $20,000 fantasy baseball league on FanDuel tonight. It's only $10 to join and first place wins $2,000. Enter by 7:05pm ET (today, July 9th). Here's the link.

Since the free agency period opened on Tuesday at midnight, NBA free agents have been finding new homes at an alarmingly fast clip. For that matter, a previous draft of this article was twice as long as what you're about to read, but thanks to killjoys like Kevin Love, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, DeMarre Carroll and Danny Green giving teams commitments, like, six seconds after they were allowed to, I had to chop out 1,000 words of awesome material.

But all is not lost: There are plenty of players still up for grabs—thus, plenty of words still to be written—and their respective landing spots will be of great interest to DFS players throughout the land.

LEBRON JAMES – Cleveland Cavaliers (unrestricted)

Possible Destination: Cleveland

DFS Outlook: Chill out, Ohio, LeBron ain't goin' nowhere—opting out of his contract was both a business move and a power play. And you DFS players can relax, too—if/when he re-ups in Cleveland, he'll get you just as many FanDuel points as ever, although one would suspect that considering how he completely ran out of gas in the Finals, he'll probably get a few DNP-CDs...after all, he is the coach. #OhNoHeDidn't #OhYesHeDid

LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE – Portland Trail Blazers (unrestricted)

Possible Destinations: Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns

DFS Outlook: The Rockets are in the mix, but fantasy players are rooting for Aldridge to ink with either Dallas, San Antonio or Phoenix, because none of those three have a ball-stopper in the starting lineup. (If you asked James Harden, "Are you a ball-stopper?" I think even he would say yes.) Better for us that if anybody stops the ball, it's Aldridge himself.

DEANDRE JORDAN – Los Angeles Clippers (unrestricted)

Possible Destinations: Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks

DFS Outlook: Jordan is a hard-hat-lunch-pail guy, and hard-hat-lunch-pail guys—especially ones who make their living in the paint and rarely, if ever get plays drawn up for them—generally give you the same numbers wherever they go. He's made it known he wants to be a bigger part of whatever offense he joins, but IMHO, he's not a bigger part dude.

DWYANE WADE – Miami Heat (unrestricted)

Possible Destinations: Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers

DFS Outlook: A somewhat pertinent question: If Wade inks with Cleveland, will his first game in Miami be a love fest, or a festival of burning uniforms? Anyhoo, wherever he ends up, he'll be on some sort of minutes restriction, and will thus be an inconsistent, frustrating fantasy entity.

MONTA ELLIS – Dallas Mavericks (unrestricted)

Possible Destinations: Sacramento Kings, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers

DFS Outlook: FanDuel users don't want Ellis in Indiana or Miami, because they're democratic teams. Sacramento, on the other hand, is like Lord of the Flies, in that the kids run the island. Ellis will give himself a green light to shoot whenever and wherever he pleases...but so will Boogie Cousins and Rudy Gay. If nothing else, they'll be fun to watch on League Pass.

TOBIAS HARRIS – Orlando Magic (restricted)

Possible Destinations: Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics

DFS Outlook: Even though they won't make him a max offer, the Magic have made it clear they want Harris back, which is unfortunate for his fantasy fans, because with the undoubted growth of Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, and the addition of first-round draft pick Mario Hezonja—who plays the same position as Harris—his DFS value will take a nosedive.

REGGIE JACKSON – Detroit Pistons (restricted)

Possible Destinations: Detroit Pistons

DFS Outlook: Jackson likes Detroit and Detroit likes Jackson, so barring some unforeseen weirdness, he'll stay put. But thanks to the healthy return of fellow ball-hogging guard Brandon Jennings, it's doubtful he'll reach the rarified fantasy air of last season's final two months, when he was dropping triple-doubles on a weekly basis.

WESLEY MATTHEWS – Portland Trail Blazers (unrestricted)

Possible Destinations: Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks

DFS Outlook: In Portland, Matthews was third or fourth option, depending on the opponent and the Blazers injury report. If he lands with the Mavs, the Raps or the Knicks, he'll be second or third, and will suddenly become a DFS almost-beast.

DAVID WEST – Indiana Pacers (unrestricted)

Possible Destinations: San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors

DFS Outlook: Once a super-reliable fantasy entity, West's numbers have gone down as his age has gone up. Either the Spurs or the Dubs would be terrific franchises for West to finish out his terrific career, but he wouldn't start for either, thus, neither offer him the opportunity to amp up his stats. That said, he'd definitely get a few more FDPs with the Warriors. But considering their high-octane offence, I'd get more FDPs with the Warriors, so bear that in mind.

RAJON RONDO – Dallas Mavericks (unrestricted)

Possible Destination: Sacramento Kings

DFS Outlook: He couldn't play any worse than he did in Dallas. Could he? Could he? Could he? (Yes. He could.) In any event, Rondo will get plenty of burn in Sacramento, so this is about as good at is will get for this one-time fantasy stud.

Editor's Note: We're hosting a one-day $20,000 fantasy baseball league on FanDuel tonight. It's only $10 to join and first place wins $2,000. Enter by 7:05pm ET (today, July 9th). Here's the link.

Alan Goldsher is a Senior Writer for FanDuel. He's the author of 14 books, and has contributed to ESPN The Magazine, NBA.com, and Chicago Bulls.com. You can follow him @AlanGoldsher.