In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with any club or franchise, i.e. not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present, but who is allowed to solicit contract offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules.

The term came into wider use after sports leagues stopped using a "reserve clause", which provided a repetitive option for the club to renew the contract for one or more years but did not allow the player to terminate it.

Unrestricted free agents are players without a team. They have either been released from their club, had the term of their contract expire without a renewal, or were not chosen in a league's draft of amateur players. These players, generally speaking, are free to entertain offers from all other teams and to decide with whom to sign a new contract.

The specific rules of restricted free agency vary among the major professional sports, but in principle it means that a player is free to solicit offers from other teams for new contracts. However, before this player is allowed to sign with the new club, the current club has a chance to match (or come within 10% in some leagues) the terms of the new contract in which case the player must remain with the original team. In some leagues, if the original team decides not to match the other team's offer for the restricted free agent, the new team provides some number of draft selections to the original team as compensation for losing the player.

Lance Stephenson, Jr. (born September 5, 1990 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers. He was drafted with the 40th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. He is a 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) shooting guard and attended Lincoln High School in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Stephenson won city basketball championships in all four years of high school, and is New York State's all-time leading scorer in high school basketball. After his senior year he was named New York State Mr. Basketball and was named to the McDonald's All-American Team in 2009.

Stephenson first caught the attention of scouts at age 12, when Clark Francis, a talent evaluator, saw him play at Rumble in the Bronx AAU tournament. And before his first year of high school, he attended the Adidas ABCD Camp, where he challenged O.J. Mayo to a one-on-one game.

In the summer of 2005, Stephenson enrolled at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, but he only attended the school for three days, before the school lost in the championship game of a youth league and he did not win the tournament MVP. The following week, Stephenson did not return to classes at Bishop Loughlin, and was attending Abraham Lincoln High School near his home in Coney Island.National Basketball Association players Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair had also attended and played basketball at Lincoln High. Head coach Dwanye Morton said, "{Stephenson} always talked about outdoing Sebastian, outdoing Stephon,", and called him "The best I've ever had at Lincoln." Stephenson went on to lead the Railsplitters to the city title that year.

LeBron Raymone James (/ləˈbrɒn/; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar while a sophomore at St. Vincent – St. Mary High School. He was selected with the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Listed as a small forward, James has set numerous youngest player records since joining the league. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003–04, was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2009, 2010, and 2012 and has been both an All-NBA selection and an All-Star every season since 2005. In 2010, a much-publicized free agency process ended with James signing with the Miami Heat.

James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to consecutive playoff appearances from 2006 through 2010. In 2007, the Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs. In 2011, James and the Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals but lost to the Dallas Mavericks. James has been a member of the USA national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and gold at the 2008 Olympics.

Evan Marcel Turner (born October 27, 1988), nicknamed The Villain, is an American basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers. Turner was drafted 2nd overall by the 76ers in the 2010 NBA draft. Turner plays the point guard, shooting guard and small forward positions. Turner was a first-team 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American and the 2010 National Player of the Year. Turner was also a two-time Big Ten Conference scoring champion and the 2010 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. He was twice the only player named as a unanimous first-team selection by both the coaches and the media to the All-Big Ten team (2008–09, 2009–10). By finishing first in scoring and second in both rebounds and assists in the conference in the 2009–10 season, he was the first men's basketball player to finish in the top two in each of these categories and in fact, the first to finish in the top five in each category in the same season.

Turner attended St. Joseph High School in Westchester. By his senior season, he was one of the top high school basketball players at his position in the nation. As a true freshman, he helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2008 National Invitation Tournament championship. The following year, he was the Big Ten Conference scoring champion for the 2008–09 season and was a first-team 2009 All-Big Ten selection. That season, he was also an honorable mention All-American and was selected as a member of the 2009 All-Big Ten Conference Tournament team, and he became one of five Big Ten players to have been among the top ten in the conference in average points, rebounds, and assists in the same season.

Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29, 1984), nicknamed "Melo", is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After a successful high school career at Towson Catholic High School and Oak Hill Academy, Anthony attended Syracuse University for college where he led the Orangemen to their first National Championship in 2003. He earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award and was named the Most Valuable Player of NCAA East Regional. After one season at Syracuse University, Anthony left college to enter the 2003 NBA Draft, where he was selected as the third pick by the Nuggets. He was traded to the Knicks several days prior to the 2011 trade deadline.

Since entering the NBA, Anthony has emerged as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. He was named to the All-Rookie team, to the All-Star team five times and to the All-NBA team five times. Anthony led the Nuggets to two division titles and to the playoffs every year from 2004 to 2010. In 2009, he helped the Nuggets advance to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1985. As a member of the USA National Team, Anthony won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.