Worst/Negative Contracts Ranking

[BelgradeNugget]

Would either side entertain a Wall for MPJ deal? Seems like a decent way for Denver to clear cap space in advance of Jokic's supermax extension and Houston to gamble on adding a really good young player for nothing if he can stay healthy.

If you make it MPJ and Murry for Wall, Wood, and Tate, plus Milwaukee and Brooklyn firsts, I'm down. You could talk me into giving up the 3rd overall pick this year, but I don't think the 3rd is super useful for Denver and I'd want more in exchange for taking back the long term MPJ contract.
.

now ad Houston's 2nd round pick, and we will ad Jokic, and we have a deal.

[lpbman]

Would either side entertain a Wall for MPJ deal? Seems like a decent way for Denver to clear cap space in advance of Jokic's supermax extension and Houston to gamble on adding a really good young player for nothing if he can stay healthy.

If you make it MPJ and Murry for Wall, Wood, and Tate, plus Milwaukee and Brooklyn firsts, I'm down. You could talk me into giving up the 3rd overall pick this year, but I don't think the 3rd is super useful for Denver and I'd want more in exchange for taking back the long term MPJ contract.
.

now ad Houston's 2nd round pick, and we will ad Jokic, and we have a deal.

Jamal Murray has yet to make an All-Star team, an All-NBA team, or win any major individual award for that matter since getting drafted back in 2016. I get that he's good, but he's already well paid, injured, and is being shipped off with maybe the worst contract in the league.

[BelgradeNugget]

MPJ is the only player from that list who is worth his contract IF Healthy. That is big IF, although he was healthy in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Not like Zion who can't play full season but will get max contract anyway.

I would add AD to the list, he never lived to his contract and never will.

[BelgradeNugget]

If you make it MPJ and Murry for Wall, Wood, and Tate, plus Milwaukee and Brooklyn firsts, I'm down. You could talk me into giving up the 3rd overall pick this year, but I don't think the 3rd is super useful for Denver and I'd want more in exchange for taking back the long term MPJ contract.
.

now ad Houston's 2nd round pick, and we will ad Jokic, and we have a deal.

Jamal Murray has yet to make an All-Star team, an All-NBA team, or win any major individual award for that matter since getting drafted back in 2016. I get that he's good, but he's already well paid, injured, and is being shipped off with maybe the worst contract in the league.

And jet he was good enough to be 1B option for WCF team. And healthy MPJ was good enough to be 2nd option on WCSF team last year. But we will make a trade anyway, don't worry

[Revenged25]

So glad not seeing Love on these type of lists anymore.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

You forgot Ben Simmons.

I think he still have plenty positive value, consideing tons of portland fans are ok with trading pick 7 for him

Sight unseen, I definitely wouldn't. No idea what is going on with Ben Simmons and I dont want to hitch my wagon and the last years of Dame to his ego or back or whatever nebulous reason for not playing he gives next.

Mayyyybe if I was an actual GM and could sit down with the kid and get a better understanding of what is going on, maybe he can convince me he still has a future in this league, but obviously I am not a GM with access to that inside info and so from the info publicly available I am staying far far away.

I worry he reached a personal breaking point and the road back from that could be very rough, with him shying away and shrinking the next time he is in a big moment. I'm afraid you just cannot really trust a guy like that deep in the playoffs when the pressure is turned to maximum. I would honestly prefer a less talented player but one who steps up in those moments.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Excuse me?

You’re excused

There's probably about 200 more contracts in between the worst contracts and JJJ and SGA.

[Texas Chuck]

Would either side entertain a Wall for MPJ deal? Seems like a decent way for Denver to clear cap space in advance of Jokic's supermax extension and Houston to gamble on adding a really good young player for nothing if he can stay healthy.

If you make it MPJ and Murry for Wall, Wood, and Tate, plus Milwaukee and Brooklyn firsts, I'm down. You could talk me into giving up the 3rd overall pick this year, but I don't think the 3rd is super useful for Denver and I'd want more in exchange for taking back the long term MPJ contract.
.

now ad Houston's 2nd round pick, and we will ad Jokic, and we have a deal.

Yeah we have a rule against counters like this. Don't do this.

[ConSarnit]

MPJ is the only player from that list who is worth his contract IF Healthy. That is big IF, although he was healthy in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Not like Zion who can't play full season but will get max contract anyway.

I would add AD to the list, he never lived to his contract and never will.

When healthy MPJ averaged:

19/7/1 + average (at best) defense

How is that max worthy? Very good scorer, yes. Doesn't get to the line or create for others. Not even close to a defensive stopper.

So far in his career he's averages 31 games per season. What about "always injured" Zion? 28.

[ConSarnit]

Randle
Bertans
MPJ
Wall
Westbrook
Robinson
Hayward
Harris
Thompson

Harris, Thompson and Hayward are three best guys when they play IMO and 2 year deal is pretty stomachable for an acquiring team. Test them for a year and if they don't work out they at least have some value as an expiring and you can roll the dice again.

I don't even hate Randle talent, just his contract really limits what you can do for so long and it is harder to flip if things don't work out.

When was the last time a team got something valuable for a large (negative) expiring deal?

I'm not a huge fan of Randle but I think people think he makes more than he does. He's on the books for $23.7m next season. Harris makes $38.4m. I'd say that $15m difference really closes the gap on their comparative values. If Randle can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's (not unreasonable) I don't really think he's that bad of a contract. I agree the length is a bit concerning but his deal will always only be half of what the absolute top guys are getting (tops out at 29.4m in 2025/26, the same year we could see a big cap spike).

[tester551]

1) MPJ 4 yr 145M left + 12M partial guaranteed 5th year (39M if guaranteed)

2) Thompson 2 yr 84M left

3) Harris 2 yr 79.5M left
4) Hayward 2 yr 61.5M left + trade kicker
5) Porzingis 2 yr 70M left

6) Randle 3 yr 77M left + 30M PO + trade kicker
7) Robinson 3 yr 55M left + 10 mil partial guaranteed 4th year
8) Wall 1 yr 47M left
9) Westbrook 1 yr 47M left
10) Bertans 2 yr 33M + 5 mil partial guaranteed 3rd year

[gswhoops]

Randle
Bertans
MPJ
Wall
Westbrook
Robinson
Hayward
Harris
Thompson

Harris, Thompson and Hayward are three best guys when they play IMO and 2 year deal is pretty stomachable for an acquiring team. Test them for a year and if they don't work out they at least have some value as an expiring and you can roll the dice again.

I don't even hate Randle talent, just his contract really limits what you can do for so long and it is harder to flip if things don't work out.

When was the last time a team got something valuable for a large (negative) expiring deal?

I'm not a huge fan of Randle but I think people think he makes more than he does. He's on the books for $23.7m next season. Harris makes $38.4m. I'd say that $15m difference really closes the gap on their comparative values. If Randle can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's (not unreasonable) I don't really think he's that bad of a contract. I agree the length is a bit concerning but his deal will always only be half of what the absolute top guys are getting (tops out at 29.4m in 2025/26, the same year we could see a big cap spike).

For me the big problems with Randle are the length (effectively 4 more years if you could the PO) and the fact that his play style really isn't conducive to winning basketball unless he's playing like his outlier year. Certainly he's more palatable if he can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's but he's still pretty hard to build a good team around. He's a square peg unless you build a team around him, and he's not good enough to warrant that kind of effort.

[PhillyNj]

1) MPJ 4 yr 145M left + 12M partial guaranteed 5th year (39M if guaranteed)

2) Thompson 2 yr 84M left

3) Harris 2 yr 79.5M left
4) Hayward 2 yr 61.5M left + trade kicker
5) Porzingis 2 yr 70M left

6) Randle 3 yr 77M left + 30M PO + trade kicker
7) Robinson 3 yr 55M left + 10 mil partial guaranteed 4th year
8) Wall 1 yr 47M left
9) Westbrook 1 yr 47M left
10) Bertans 2 yr 33M + 5 mil partial guaranteed 3rd year

For me Tobias Harris is the best player on this list so he’s either not on the list at all or much further down.

[ConSarnit]

Randle
Bertans
MPJ
Wall
Westbrook
Robinson
Hayward
Harris
Thompson

Harris, Thompson and Hayward are three best guys when they play IMO and 2 year deal is pretty stomachable for an acquiring team. Test them for a year and if they don't work out they at least have some value as an expiring and you can roll the dice again.

I don't even hate Randle talent, just his contract really limits what you can do for so long and it is harder to flip if things don't work out.

When was the last time a team got something valuable for a large (negative) expiring deal?

I'm not a huge fan of Randle but I think people think he makes more than he does. He's on the books for $23.7m next season. Harris makes $38.4m. I'd say that $15m difference really closes the gap on their comparative values. If Randle can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's (not unreasonable) I don't really think he's that bad of a contract. I agree the length is a bit concerning but his deal will always only be half of what the absolute top guys are getting (tops out at 29.4m in 2025/26, the same year we could see a big cap spike).

For me the big problems with Randle are the length (effectively 4 more years if you could the PO) and the fact that his play style really isn't conducive to winning basketball unless he's playing like his outlier year. Certainly he's more palatable if he can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's but he's still pretty hard to build a good team around. He's a square peg unless you build a team around him, and he's not good enough to warrant that kind of effort.

I agree. I wouldn't want him on my team. I guess my qualm is that he's not really that bad compared to guys like Harris or Thompson. They are fine "over the cap" guys who you can pay if money isn't an issue (GSW) or you have no better options (PHI) but they become much more damaging if a team has to absorb them (killing large chunks of their cap space to do so).

[psman2]

MPJ-Worst
Klay
Robinson
Wall
Westbrook
Bertans
Randle
Rozier
Harris
Hayward
KP

[ThatBoyNick]

Excuse me?

You’re excused

There's probably about 200 more contracts in between the worst contracts and JJJ and SGA.

I put question marks on the bottom players because I think they have to potential to become very bad contracts.

SGA had a phenomenal little stretch post allstar weekend, but I remember what he did for the majority of his season pre all star, and his contract is very big/long. Not hating, I like SGA, but there's potential for the contract to go sour. JJJr has to quit fouling so much and needs to focus on his shot selection. Both SGA/JJJr have had injuries.

[gswhoops]

When was the last time a team got something valuable for a large (negative) expiring deal?

I'm not a huge fan of Randle but I think people think he makes more than he does. He's on the books for $23.7m next season. Harris makes $38.4m. I'd say that $15m difference really closes the gap on their comparative values. If Randle can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's (not unreasonable) I don't really think he's that bad of a contract. I agree the length is a bit concerning but his deal will always only be half of what the absolute top guys are getting (tops out at 29.4m in 2025/26, the same year we could see a big cap spike).

For me the big problems with Randle are the length (effectively 4 more years if you could the PO) and the fact that his play style really isn't conducive to winning basketball unless he's playing like his outlier year. Certainly he's more palatable if he can get his 3pt shooting back into the mid-30's but he's still pretty hard to build a good team around. He's a square peg unless you build a team around him, and he's not good enough to warrant that kind of effort.

I agree. I wouldn't want him on my team. I guess my qualm is that he's not really that bad compared to guys like Harris or Thompson. They are fine "over the cap" guys who you can pay if money isn't an issue (GSW) or you have no better options (PHI) but they become much more damaging if a team has to absorb them (killing large chunks of their cap space to do so).

Yeah so much of this depends on your team's roster, goals, etc. I just think a guy like Harris is easily better/more valuable on the floor, and his contract is shorter to boot.

[queridiculo]

Porzingis honorable mention, no?

He made the list

Yeah, after the edit

[Apz]

I suppose since it is personal opinion its hard to say someone is wrong. But leaguewise i would say its proved that kp counts as lower tradevalue then bertans since dinwiddie counted as negative and mavs had to add a 2nd to bertans for moving kp.

I think it differ a lot from team to team and their situations. For me, bertans contract doesnt really matter or the years. He might get 6m too much per year but rather that relatively small caphit then say harris that is 20m per year overpayed or westbrook thats 47m overpayed. And there is a lot of player making more that got or should get a lot less time on court then bertans did this po.
Also, unless u plan to send them home, getting an expiring is a risk. Like, when russ agent tells him after half the season that noone is intrested for next year, will he put the geam first or try to make himself look good to land a contract somewhere? Im prdtty sure i know the answer to that.

[Godaddycurse]

Porzingis honorable mention, no?

He made the list

Yeah, after the edit

No he was on there as KP before so i edit it to porzingis to avoid confusion