3 Best Remaining NBA Veteran Free Agents

With the 2019 NBA season just around the corner and teams still putting the final tweaks on their rosters, there are still a number of veteran free agents in need of a job. We have narrowed it down to the top three veterans that NBA teams should keep an eye on as rosters begin to get cemented over the next few weeks.

1. J.R. Smith - Guard

J.R. Smith played in only 11 games last season, but he put up solid numbers in the previous 2017-18 campaign in 61 starts for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is still, at his best, an elite 3-point shooter with impressive athletic ability. He's no longer a starter-caliber player, but he proved in Cleveland he can be a significant contributor on a championship contender. And at this point, he could provide some much-needed offense and energy for a more competitive team's second unit.

2. Jamal Crawford - Guard

Even at the age of 39 years old, Jamal Crawford can still score with the best of them in the NBA when he's at the top of his game. Last season, Crawford put up 51 points in a game coming off the bench for the lowly Phoenix Suns. That being said, he's still likely to give you consistent big minutes or serve as a lockdown defender, and Crawford can be a huge asset off the bench with his high basketball IQ, excellent scoring ability and veteran leadership.

3. Carmelo Anthony - Forward

At this point, Carmelo Anthony has been a free agent for far longer than anyone of his talent level should be. Melo can still put the ball in the hoop and he is one of the most versatile scorers the league has ever seen. He has admitted that he is past the point of being the best player on a team, and he is now willing to accept a lesser role to help a team win. In only 10 games last season, he scored 13.4 points per game (PPG) on a Houston Rockets' team that clearly wasn't a good fit for him from the get-go. The year before in Oklahoma City with the Thunder, Melo took a backseat to Russell Westbrook and Paul George, but he still put up just short of 17 PPG (16.2 PPG). Beyond the past two seasons, he has averaged more than 20.0 PPG in every year of his 17-season NBA career. Despite his lowered output in the last two years, Melo should still be ready make an NBA return, and there are certainly a large handful of teams with far less talented players on their rosters than him.

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David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.