2025 NBA Free Agents: Teams Should Keep An Eye On This Forgotten Wing
HOUSTON, TEXAS - DECEMBER 27: Jabari Smith Jr. #10 and Jae'Sean Tate #8 of the Houston Rockets react ... More against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second half at Toyota Center on December 27, 2024 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by)
With the 2024-25 season nearing its conclusion, it is time to start looking ahead to the offseason. In this article series, we will take a look at under-the-radar options in the 2025 Free Agency Pool. For the sake of simplicity, we are going to focus primarily on unrestricted free agents.
The 2025 offseason projects to be a busy one for the suddenly formidable Houston Rockets. Among their myriad decisions to make over these next few months is whether or not they should bring unrestricted free agent Jae'Sean Tate back for his sixth season in Texas.
Given how well-liked Tate seems to be by his teammates, the Rockets could very well want to bring him back on a team-friendly deal. However, with so many other young players to develop, Houston may opt to let him walk and focus on feeding their bigger fish.
If the latter transpires, playoff teams across the land should be scouring to sign Tate this summer.
Last season, Tate appeared in just 52 games, averaging 3.6 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 11.3 minutes of action. He also did not see a single second in the Rockets' first round series against the Golden State Warriors (although he was dealing with an ankle injury).
What makes a player like this worth writing an entire article about? Well, before we discuss this, we need to address some critical context.
In his essence, Tate is a defense-first wing/forward. Unfortunately for him, the Rockets are chock full of this exact player type, and all of them rank higher on the totem pole than Tate. Between Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, and Cam Whitmore (who isn't really a good defender but still ranks ahead of Tate on the depth chart because of his untapped potential), the Rockets simply don't have enough minutes for a guy like Tate.
Basketball is all about building a balanced roster. The Rockets have too many players similar to Tate for him to be valuable to them. But just because one playoff team doesn't have much need for him doesn't mean another one won't.
For his career, Tate is a 30.9% 3-point shooter. Once upon a time, that type of efficiency for a player of his usage would be a death sentence in the playoffs. However, given the rise of physicality over the last few years and the innovations in the field of cutting, Tate's strengths have become much more useful, and his weaknesses far less damaging.
For about the last year and a half, the league has revised its officiating approach to allow for more physicality and fewer fouls. This has increased the value of defense-first players like Tate (96th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus, per Dunks & Threes).
Tate is also a serviceable cutter, as evidenced by his ability to get to the rim (78th percentile rim frequency, per Cleaning the Glass). His efficiency isn't as good, but that's likely a byproduct of the team's poor spacing. Clearly, though, he has the athleticism to find pockets of space and explode at the hoop, which should translate well to a team with less clutter inside. He was also in the 94th percentile in offensive rebounding rate among forwards (another indicator of his knack for cutting).
What really draws me to Tate is his underrated skill with the ball. This season, he didn't get as many repetitions, but in 2023-24, his true shooting on drives was at 60%, which ranked in the 84th percentile leaguewide (per Thinking Basketball). So, if teams try to close out short to him, Tate has the ability to put the ball on the floor and bulldoze them with his powerful frame.
Like many of the other names we will highlight in this series, Tate likely isn't a starting-caliber forward on a high-end team. But his high-end defensive impact coupled with his skills as a driver, cutter, and rebounder on offense gives him the makeup of a key rotational piece on a playoff team that isn't rich in wings/forwards like the Rockets (think a team like the Milwaukee Bucks or New York Knicks).
And since his value has been diminished by the fact a logjam at forward made everyone forget about him, a team could nab this sneaky contributor for not too much more than the veteran minimum. That's a heck of a value for someone who, in the right matchup, could help swing a series.
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