Epic NBA Contract Fails: Ranking The NBA's Five Worst Current Contracts

July 24, 2023

Who has the worst contracts in the NBA? Alex Fischbein gives his opinion on the worst five active contracts in the league.

As the free agent market heats up, NBA salaries continue to soar. While some franchises find their team's "missing piece" in free agency, some organizations make huge mistakes by shelling out massive contracts to players that are destined to underperform.

Former contracts such as Chandler Parsons getting $94 million and Eddy Curry getting $60 million for production that was worth far less than half of that. The difference in this day and age is that there are a lot more players getting north of $100 million instead.

Today, we're going to go through a list of the five worst active contracts in the NBA. There are a few factors that go into a contract getting named in this list. First, and foremost, is the monetary value and how much of the team's salary cap it consumes each year that they stay on the team. Second, is the player's output in comparison to the monetary value that the team is hoping they live up to. Third is how much the team would have to trade to actually get out from under said contract so that they could finally build something.

#5. Zach LaVine - 5-yr $215M

Zach LaVine, first and foremost, is still a very good player. He's probably one of the best second or third options that a team could have. The problem with that is he's supposed to be the first option for Chicago and that has gotten the team to early vacations so far.

The first year of this deal kicked in this past season and it was actually one of LaVine's healthiest years since 2015-16. His trend tends to be playing 60 or fewer games per season and he's posted only two seasons of 25 or more points per game while getting paid north of $40 million for the next four years.

If the Bulls decide to trade Zach LaVine...

Where would you want to see him land? pic.twitter.com/1pdIxIHYUo

— Dunk League (@DunkLeague) July 1, 2023

Furthermore, LaVine's defensive rating ranked 285th in defensive rating last year, 52nd in player efficiency rating and box plus/minus, and 223rd in offensive rating all while having a usage that ranks in the top 25. So, for someone that's going to get up to $48 million in a single season, that seems like a bit much.

#4. John Collins - 5-yr $125M

Does anyone remember the one season that John Collins actually averaged 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game? Well, that was four seasons ago in 2019-20 which is exactly what got him paid.

Since then, he's regressed in almost every traditional category except for blocks. Before finally being traded away, he averaged a whopping 13.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.o blocks per game while shooting 50.8% from the floor and 29.2% from beyond the arc. He was already coming up short during the Hawks playoff runs and that turned into coming up short regularly throughout the whole season.

If the Bulls decide to trade Zach LaVine...

Where would you want to see him land? pic.twitter.com/1pdIxIHYUo

— Dunk League (@DunkLeague) July 1, 2023

Now, the Utah Jazz are on the hook to pay him $25 and $26 million for the next few seasons. Perhaps he will have a resurgence, but his career so far in the NBA has been largely disappointing.

#3. Rudy Gobert - 5-yr $205M

The honors for the worst trade and one of the worst contracts in the league both go to none other than Rudy Gobert. That's a big accomplishment considering the only person he was battling in both of those aspects was Ben Simmons.

Minnesota gutted their entire future to bring in Gobert and then get to the same exact spot they were in the season before. Gobert also punched his teammate during the postseason and had to miss an elimination game in the process. To make matters worse, his contract goes to $40 million per year starting next season and can reach as high as $46.6 million.

So to put that into perspective, the Timberwolves are going to play close to $50 million for a player that averaged 13.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game. That doesn't even account for the fact that he plays the same position as the team's best player in Karl-Anthony Towns, and the lack of offense outside of Towns and Anthony Edwards is the biggest issue working against their success.

There's not a single team in the league that wants this contract for a 31-year-old defensive specialist.

#2. Bradley Beal - 5-yr $251M

Bradley Beal has long been the leader in most absurd contracts in the league and the only one remaining with a no-trade clause included.

There have only been 10 no-trade clauses in NBA history, by the way, and Beal is one of those while some of the other names include LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Garnett. Those are all-time greats that have received a no-trade clause and somehow Beal found his way into that club.

While he did finally get traded, he becomes a headache for the Phoenix Suns just in time for some stricter salary cap rules starting in a couple of seasons. The 30-year-old guard is owed $46.7 million next season and has a player option in 2026-27 for $57 million. On top of that, he hasn't played more than 60 games in a season since 2018-19 and that doesn't mix well with Kevin Durant who also hasn't played as many since the same year.

If the Bulls decide to trade Zach LaVine...

Where would you want to see him land? pic.twitter.com/1pdIxIHYUo

— Dunk League (@DunkLeague) July 1, 2023

A ton of money, a ton of injury issues, a no-trade clause, and starting to go down the hill that is the other side of 30 all equates to a bad contract.

#1. Ben Simmons - 5-yr $177M

There isn't much to be said about this contract that hasn't been said by many people before. I'm sure many of you reading this have probably even predicted who the worst contract in the league would be.

Ben Simmons went from a promising young star that could take the league by storm to a shell of a player that can't even get on the floor at times due to either injuries or a mental block. Jacque Vaughn, head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, even said that they couldn't figure out where to slot Simmons into the lineup after swapping him for James Harden.

Paying $35 million this past season, $37.8 million next season, and $40.3 million the season after that for a player that can barely even play the sport of basketball is not money well spent.

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