The Most Overpaid NBA Players of the 2017-18 Season
The summer of 2016 will live in NBA lore. As the influx of TV rights money hit the salary cap, teams threw around their new cash like a rapper out on the town, dishing out deals far more lucrative than many players deserved. Which of the terrible contracts currently floating around the league are the worst of the worst
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony (7) reacts after receiving a technical foul in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.
The summer of 2016 will live in NBA lore. With the league having agreed to a new television rights deal, the NBA approached the Players Association and pitched the idea of gradually rolling the influx of money into the salary cap.
The players rejected that idea. They wanted the immediate, dramatic spike. So, they got their wish—the salary cap went up by $24 million.
As a result, virtually every team suddenly had an abundance of cash, and they threw it around like a rapper at the club. Joakim Noah got four years and $72 million. Luol Deng inked the same deal. Mike Conley got the fattest contract in NBA history—five years and $153 million.
Teams are now paying the price for their spending spree. They spent as if the cap would keep going up by tens of millions annually—it hasn’t—and we’re now seeing the rebound effect. As many as 15 franchises could be obligated to pay the luxury tax next season—in a typical year, about five teams pay the tax.
Fans have long debated which players are the best in the league, but nowadays they also debate which guys are playing on the best and worst contracts. In the Moneyball era, fans have become fascinated with the analytics of everything from shooting percentages to opt-out provisions.
Though some players are fortunate to sign at the perfect time, others sign when the league is financially hamstrung (like it will be this coming summer) or when their value is at its lowest. Until last summer, two-time MVP Steph Curry was playing for only $11 million per year. It’s hard to believe, but some scrubs make more than some stars.
Which of the many terrible contracts currently floating around the league is the worst? Who was the most un-tradeable asset in the NBA this past season? These are the 10 most overpaid players in the 2017-18 NBA season.
10. Wesley Matthews
Team: Dallas Mavericks
2017-18 salary: $17.9 million
Stats: 12.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.7 APG
Matthews was a bargain for the Blazers and a rip-off for the Mavericks. He spent one season with the Jazz before signing a five-year, $34 million deal with Portland. He broke out with the Blazers, entering the starting lineup in Brandon Roy’s absence and flourishing in the backcourt alongside Damian Lillard.
Matthews was a dead-eye shooter; he became the team’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals made. But he tore his Achilles in March 2015, shortly before hitting free agency. Mark Cuban gambled by giving Matthews a four-year, $70 million deal, and while he’s been a fine player and consistent starter for Dallas, his performance hasn’t come close to warranting his salary.
9. Harrison Barnes
Team: Dallas Mavericks
2017-18 salary: $23.1 million
Stats: 18.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.5 APG
Sorry, Mavericks fans—not trying to pick on you. At least your team isn’t at the top of this list! Harrison Barnes was a heralded recruit as USA’s Mr. Basketball in 2010. He had an up-and-down two years at UNC before the Warriors took him with the No. 7 pick in 2012.
He blossomed in Golden State’s system, benefitting from the open looks afforded by playing with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. In 2016, Dallas extended a massive offer to Barnes—four years and $95 million. Warriors GM Bob Myers, knowing he couldn’t keep the whole crew together forever, let him go. Though Barnes has certainly improved in his expanded role, he is clearly not a franchise player—he’d probably be the third or fourth option on a championship team.
8. Carmelo Anthony
Team: Oklahoma City Thunder
2017-18 salary: $26.2 million
Stats: 16.2 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.3 APG
Anthony had arguably his best season in 2012-13, finishing third in MVP voting behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant. He sustained—and some would say improved upon—his strong performance the next season. In the summer of 2014, New York gave Melo a five-year, $124 million deal, making him the league’s fourth highest-paid player.
Melo’s performance dropped off almost immediately. Three years later, after he had a falling out with then-team president Phil Jackson, the Knicks were desperate to ship him off. They found a taker in Oklahoma City. Melo was unwilling to adapt to a bench role in OKC, still believing himself to be the star he once was. Now, the Thunder are reportedly looking to get rid of Melo—but good luck getting another team to take on his contract.
7. Allen Crabbe
Team: Brooklyn Nets
2017-18 salary: $19.3 million
Stats: 13.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.6 APG
Crabbe was an unheralded prospect out of Cal—the Cavs drafted him in the second round and he bounced around the D League—but he soon latched on with the Blazers. After two promising seasons, he became a restricted free agent. The Brooklyn Nets offered him a mammoth deal: four years and $75 million.
Plot twist: Portland matched it! One year later, realizing their mistake, the Blazers offloaded Crabbe’s contract on Brooklyn—the Nets, turns out, still wanted him—in exchange for Andrew Nicholson. Crabbe now makes more than Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler. He’s a good role player, but far from a star.
6. Bismack Biyombo
Team: Orlando Magic
2017-18 salary: $17 million
Stats: 5.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.2 BPG
Biyombo emerged as a solid energy guy for the Toronto Raptors in his lone season (2015-16) in The Six. He’s never been much of an offensive threat, but he became known around the league as a strong rebounder and defender off the bench.
He cashed out in the lucrative summer of 2016. Orlando gave Biyombo a four-year, $72 million deal. He still has never averaged more than six points per game and has not regularly cracked the Magic’s starting lineup. He’s been essentially the same player he was in Toronto—a strong defender and a guy who hustles, but not someone you want occupying a good chunk of your salary cap.
5. Ian Mahinmi
Team: Washington Wizards
2017-18 salary: $16.7 million
Stats: 4.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 0.5 BPG
This deal was a real head-scratcher. Ian had averaged only 4.3 points per game in his seven-season career before 2015-16. When Roy Hibbert left Indiana in 2015, Mahinmi got an opportunity to start. He had a decent year and played particularly well in the playoffs—in a pivotal first-round game against the Raptors, he put up 22 points, 10 boards, and five assists. As a result, that summer, Washington rewarded him with a four-year, $64 million deal. Still, Mahinmi has never started for Washington, and he barely sees the court in big games.
4. Chandler Parsons
Team: Memphis Grizzlies
2017-18 salary: $23.1 million
Stats: 7.9 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.9 APG
Chandler Parsons had the best years of his career with the Houston Rockets, as he played alongside James Harden and Dwight Howard. In 2013-14, Parsons put up 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. He looked like the prototypical modern wing; at 6-foot-10, he was versatile enough to play almost any position on the court.
In the 2014 offseason, he famously signed a deal with Dallas while in the club with Cuban. Parsons played pretty well but battled injuries in his two years in Dallas, and in July 2016 he signed a four-year, $94.4 million deal with Memphis. At the time, it seemed like an illogical gamble on a 27-year-old who had struggled to stay on the court, and that’s still pretty accurate. Parsons has played in only 70 total games in his two seasons in Memphis, and his productivity has dropped dramatically. He’s still in the rotation, but probably won’t last much longer in the league.
3. Timofey Mozgov
Team: Brooklyn Nets
2017-18 salary: $15.3 million
Stats: 4.2 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 0.4 BPG
Timofey Mozgov should be paying royalties to LeBron James. With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving sidelined during the 2015 Finals, he became the Cavs’ second most reliable player. In those Finals versus Golden State, he averaged 14.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game.
Congrats to my brother Big fella Mozzie on the deal with the Lakers!! Enjoy LA. Dinner on you
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 1, 2016
The Lakers rewarded Mozgov’s performance with a four-year, $64 million deal that they almost immediately regretted, in a deal that made many belly laugh: L.A. eventually had to package DeAngelo Russell with the Russian big man to get his contract off its hands. Brooklyn is now saddled with two more years of paying top-flight figures to a below-average big man who will soon turn 32. He played in just 31 games this season.
2. Joakim Noah
Team: New York Knicks
2017-18 salary: $17.8 million
Stats: 1.7 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 0.6 APG
Noah, 33, was an All-Star in 2013 and 2014, but he fell off quickly. The 2014 Defensive Player of the Year lost his starting spot with Chicago in 2015-16 and battled injuries all season. That ensuing offseason, the Knicks took a gamble on the former Florida Gators center, bringing him back to his hometown.
Noah didn’t play in the second half of his first season due to a knee injury and suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. He barely played this season, appearing in only seven games, and disappeared after a heated altercation with then-Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek. New coach David Fizdale has said he’s open to Noah coming back to the Knicks, but it seems more likely that the team will waive him.
1. Luol Deng
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
2017-18 salary: $17.2 million
Stats: 2.0 PPG, 1.0 APG, 1.0 SPG
Deng, like Noah, was one of the key players on the Chicago Bulls teams of the early-2010s. With Noah, Deng, and Derrick Rose, the Bulls came close but could never quite escape the East. The former Duke Blue Devil and No. 7 overall pick (2004) made two All-Star appearances with the Bulls (2012-13) and was noted as one of the best two-way players in the league.
In 2014, the Bulls traded Deng to Cleveland for Andrew Bynum and a bunch of picks. Deng later signed with the Heat, where he seemed to return to All-Star form. In the summer of 2016, L.A. made another costly mistake, signing Deng to a gargantuan deal. Late in the 2016-17 season, the Lakers decided to shut him down and give his minutes to younger players. He played in only the first game of this past season before he and the team mutually decided he would be deactivated for the remainder. He is under contract for two more years, but there’s no reason to assume he’ll actually be playing, making Deng the most overpaid player in the NBA.
Honorable mentions: Paul Millsap, George Hill, Brook Lopez, Evan Turner