T&T board top 10 worst contracts - Nominate 10 players

[Dr Positivity]

Nominate the players with the least trade value including salary, age, health, etc.

[tmorgan]

Beal
Embiid
Podcast P

Might as well start with the obvious ones.

Kawhi
Pat Williams
Jamal Murray
Ayton

That’s all I have for now.

[babyjax13]

George
Beal
Embiid
Butler
Leonard
OG Anunoby
Jerami Grant
Jarred Vanderbilt
Zeke Nnaji
Andrew Wiggins

hon. RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Max Strus, Zion (but has the ung. portion), DeMar DeRozan, DeAndre Ayton

[Godaddycurse]

George
Beal
Embiid
Butler
Leonard
OG Anunoby
Jerami Grant
Jarred Vanderbilt
Zeke Nnaji
Andrew Wiggins

hon. RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Max Strus, Zion (but has the ung. portion), DeMar DeRozan, DeAndre Ayton

I think Patrick Williams belongs on that top 10 list

[Dr Positivity]

Bradley Beal - duh
Paul George - duh
Kawhi Leonard - I wouldn't want it
Jordan Poole - Has improved enough to escape Beal island, not the overall list
Patrick Williams - starter caliber salary seems generous
Jerami Grant - stats are down so not even sure you're getting the Tobias contract here
DeJounte Murray - achilles tear and was probably overrated anyway
RJ Barrett - just don't see his skillset as that appealing to teams
Joel Embiid - Let's use the Ayton test, would Portland give up one mildly unappealing Ayton salary next year for Embiid? Feels too dangerous to me
Deandre Ayton - Might as well put him on here too.

[facothomas22]

1. Bradley Beal - Massively overpaid compared to his production. His no trade Cluase clearly moves him into the worse contract in the NBA territory.

2. Paul George - If wasn't for the fact that Beal had a no trade clause, he would be the worst contract in the NBA. The 76ers basically replaced Tobias Harris with a worse Tobias Harris on a larger contract.


3. Patrick Williams - His regression has just been bad. He's getting getting starting level money to be a below average role player, who's also becoming a worse player. This contract is increasing becoming a ugly contract that would need a 1st round pick just to be moved.Terrible investment by the Bulls.

4. De'Andre Ayton - Still has be one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Plays no defense, which quite bad for a big man and automatically decreases his value. Even his offense isn't up to par for someone who's not a good defender at the Center position.

5 - Joel Emiid - His health issues are well documented and they are clearly effecting his level of play. He's simply not the same player as his was 2-3 years ago.He's making 60+ dollar per year, which is awful bad value for the 76ers.

6. Jamaal Murray - If there's one thing can prevent Luka Doncic from going to the Nuggets next off season, it would be this contract. At 50 million dollars in this new CBA at his level of play is not ideal. Not to say this contract is untradeable, but they would have to find a desperate team willing to take on his contract without attaching significant salary on their end. That may be hard to accomplish unless Murray starts to play at a actual all star level by next season.

7. Kawhi Leonard- Too injury issues and so far hasn't looked a top player in the NBA even since his return. Normal Powell and Ivica Zubic are keeping the Clippers afloat in the Western Conference right now.

8. Jared Venderbilt - Before this month, he was out of action for a entire season and he's still a offensive liability.

9. Immanuel Quickley - 35 Million Dollars per year to be a 13 point per game scorer, while not providing elite level defense is ugly value. Dyson Daniels is projected to make a good less money than that and he provides a bit less offense on far,far more impactful defense.

10.Zeke Nnaji - The only reason why he's not higher on the list because he's making under 10 million per year. He's basically unplayable and he still has several of years left on his contract.

[daoneandonly]

Bradley Beal
Paul George
Jerami Grant
RJ Barrett
Jordan Poole
Immanuel Quickley
Anthony Davis - perpetually out

[Mr Loggins]

Lauri Markannan, unless this year is an abberration

[Godaddycurse]

9. Immanuel Quickley - 35 Million Dollars per year to be a 13 point per game scorer, while not providing elite level defense is ugly value. Dyson Daniels is projected to make a good less money than that and he provides a bit less offense on far,far more impactful defense.

its actually 32.5M per year, and his scoring is now close to 16 ppg and climbing after returning from injury. i expect ~18 ppg or so moving forward if not more. Still overpaid this and next year though

[Dr Positivity]

Jamal Murray is closer to be being one on the top 25 trade value than this list to me.

[Mavrelous]

PG13
Beal
Grant
Embiid
Quickly
Dejonte Murray
Middleton
Ayton
Smart
CJ McCollum

[ReggiesKnicks]

Bradley Beal
Paul George
Lauri Markkanen
Alex Caruso
Jalen Johnson
Jalen Suggs
Domantas Sabonis
DeJounte Murray
Patrick Williams
Brandon Ingram
Joel Embiid
Jaylen Brown
Jerami Grant
Zeke Nnaji

These are all in contention for me. Could also see some other guys in discourse.

[ReggiesKnicks]

PG13
Beal
Grant
Embiid
Quickly
Dejonte Murray
Middleton
Ayton
Smart
CJ McCollum

How can expiring be considered that bad?

[giberish]

With the shorter contracts available, there aren't as many ugly contracts as their used to be. Those 7 year M:E deals for scrubs that would linger on forever can't happen anymore.

[Mavrelous]

PG13
Beal
Grant
Embiid
Quickly
Dejonte Murray
Middleton
Ayton
Smart
CJ McCollum

How can expiring be considered that bad?

If it carries 20-25M excess salary...
Aytin is owed 37M next year for example, Vanderbilt will be owed 37/3, who's worse?

[ReggiesKnicks]

PG13
Beal
Grant
Embiid
Quickly
Dejonte Murray
Middleton
Ayton
Smart
CJ McCollum

How can expiring be considered that bad?

If it carries 20-25M excess salary...
Aytin is owed 37M next year for example, Vanderbilt will be owed 37/3, who's worse?

Vanderbilt ties up the salary sheet longer and is one of the worst offensive players in the league, but he is also Dennis Rodman-lite in terms of how he impacts the game, even in the modern era of space and pace. He has also missed considerable amount of time the past 2 seasons and his career, from day 1, has been hamstrung by injury.

Ayton is a starting caliber center. He puts up decent box-score lines and his impact data is also decent (no massive negatives). Ayton has clear questions surrounding his effort level at times but at the end of the day he is a starting caliber player on an expiring contract.

I would say comparing these two players comes down to approach to bad contracts. For me, contracts get exponentially worse the longer you are committed to a player. Paying Jaylen Brown, a Top 50 player, Supermax money for 4 more years is not where I want to be when making a franchise. But, if your team is the deepest in the NBA in terms of starting caliber players and he is coupled by Jayson Tatum on the Wing, then you can afford to pay Brown.

In a vacuum, paying a player of Brown's caliber the SuperMax for 4 more seasons is a recipe for disaster.

[tmorgan]

The fact that not everyone agrees is why we have these exercises to begin with.

[babyjax13]

George
Beal
Embiid
Butler
Leonard
OG Anunoby
Jerami Grant
Jarred Vanderbilt
Zeke Nnaji
Andrew Wiggins

hon. RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Max Strus, Zion (but has the ung. portion), DeMar DeRozan, DeAndre Ayton

I think Patrick Williams belongs on that top 10 list

I can see the argument for sure.

[BelgradeNugget]

6. Jamaal Murray - If there's one thing can prevent Luka Doncic from going to the Nuggets next off season, it would be this contract. At 50 million dollars in this new CBA at his level of play is not ideal. Not to say this contract is untradeable, but they would have to find a desperate team willing to take on his contract without attaching significant salary on their end. That may be hard to accomplish unless Murray starts to play at a actual all star level by next season.

10.Zeke Nnaji - The only reason why he's not higher on the list because he's making under 10 million per year. He's basically unplayable and he still has several of years left on his contract.

6. Jamal Murray - Denver Nuggets had the most embarrassing moment of the season when they lost to Washington Wizzards on 12/8/2024. Wizzards were on 16 games loosing streak.

Before 12/8/2024 in 17 games, Murray averaged
17.8/4.0/6.2, shooting 42/33/80

Since 12/8/2024 in 32 games
23.2/3.8/6.0, shooting 50/41/91

After injury problems he had at the start of the season he is closer to playoff Murray now.

10. Zeke Nnaji - was terrible this and last season, but there is a reason Nuggets gave him that contract. In his rookie and sophmore seasons he showed potental. Since the start of February he is in rotation playing his natural position PF, sharing floor with Jokic and averaging 7.5/4.6/0.6 with 1.1 stl and 1.5 blocks in 22 minutes shooting 54/33/75. The best thing is not in stats but he is maybe Nuggets best defender, at worst top 4. This strech is still small sample size but there is a hope for him.

[tmorgan]

I don’t think Nnaji makes enough to be relevant for a top ten list. 3/23 after this year on a slightly declining contract. Yeah, he kinda sucks, but that’s just not enough money to matter for this list. At the very worst (which isn’t accurate), it’s 23 million dollars for nothing. There’s soooo many worse deals than that out there.

Just compare him to Pat Williams, another “got a deal he didn’t deserve” guy. He has 4/72 left and doesn’t do much more than Nnaji. Now THAT is an ugly contract.