Top Names To Watch On The Buyout Market

Now that the trade deadline is behind us, it's time for teams to start looking at the buyout market in order to fortify their lineups in the days and weeks ahead.

The Los Angeles Lakers aren't the only team that's looking for buyout candidates, they will have plenty of competition.

Although the list usually is made up of older, high-priced, low-performing players that teams couldn't get anyone to bite on during trade talks, there are nevertheless some interesting names that could play a role down the stretch.

With the help of former NBA general manager John Hollinger, in The Athletic, here are the top names to watch.

John Wall

The Houston Rockets are paying Wall $44M to sit at home this season (and $47M next season), as they've told him they'd rather give their young backcourt all the run. But up until now, Wall has been adamant he wouldn't accept a buyout, and wanted to be traded to a contender. Will things change now that a trade is off the table? As Hollinger writes, both sides "have realized by now that nobody is ever trading for this contract. The question, then, is how much of a haircut Wall would take to hit the open market again?" We certainly know of one team that is interested in his services.

Gary Harris

While having a fairly decent season in Orlando, Hollinger speculates that the Magic would rather spend the rest of their season going for ping pong balls rather than wins. "His 3-and-D playing style also makes him an easy add into any system."

Goran Dragic

The Toronto Raptors were successful in their efforts to extract a useful role player (Thad Young), rather than buy out their estranged guard. Mission successful, so now it's the San Antonio Spurs that will buy him out, with the Dallas Mavericks expected to bring him in to pair him up with his Slovenian brother Luka Doncic. Other teams will be bidding for his services as well.

Goran Dragic is expected to negotiate a buyout, per Woj pic.twitter.com/vnT16wegKY
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) February 10, 2022

Eric Bledsoe

Though it's not a guarantee, there are thoughts the Portland Trail Blazers, who just acquired Bledsoe this week, will buy him out, after he didn't even play in the team's two games since his arrival.

Robin Lopez

The Magic had unrealistic expectations of a 1st-round pick for Lopez; he's only played in 24 of their games this year. Teams like Milwaukee and Chicago could be in the running to sign him if he's bought out.

Dennis Schroder

This one is a question mark. He's presumably too valuable a piece to be on this list, but the Celtics sent him to Houston, where he seemingly faces the same predicament that John Wall has all season—the Rockets' desire to develop their young guys. Many are calling him a buyout candidate. And once again, there's a team we know that just might be interested, even though they let him walk last summer.