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2025 Free Agents - Josh Okogie

Okogie has shown some real defensive ability, as he has the size and quickness to guard 1-4. He can be a legitimate lock-down defender on-ball, and also can be disruptive off-ball, as he has very good steal and block rates for a wing.  However, Okogie has yet to show much of any development offensively, and his minutes steadily decreased in Minnesota since his rookie season as the Timberwolves became deeper and more competitive. However, he has got more minutes since joining the Suns, and even started some games in the 2023 playoffs.  While Okogie shot a career high from three in '22-'23, he only hit 33%, and his career rate is very poor at 30%, and shot 29% in '23-'24. Despite really struggling shooting the ball, he does add some value offensively with his offensive rebounding, posting an 7.7% offensive rebounding rate in '22-'23, which is in the 98th percentile for his position, according to Cleaning the Glass, and even better in '23-'24 at 8.2%. He has also historically put up good offensive rebounding numbers, so these seasons don't appear to be an outlier. He has also showed some improved passing ability in the last couple years. Defenses will often leave Okogie left unguarded and load up against the Suns' stars. If he can avoid becoming a liability offensively, that will be huge for him going forward. Okogie needs to become enough of a threat offensively that he can stay on the court.

Summary

Okogie's $7.8 million salary for 2025-2026 is non-guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Suns will have no form of Bird rights on him. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so. If Okogie becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Taxpayer MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. If Okogie is waived and clears waivers, his value may have dropped low enough that he would only have offers for the minimum.

Cap Considerations

Taurean Prince (1 year minimum, 2024) Matisse Thybulle (2+1 years, $33 million, 2023) Kenrich Williams (4-1 years, $27 million, 2022)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Bulls, Suns, Hawks, Kings, Pacers

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $3.1 million ($2.3 million cap hit) with the Bulls

Last updated: 8/18/2024

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