Pedro Oliveira
In this list we are going to bring together the 5 worst NBA contracts given in free agency over the last 10 years.
Over the past decade of elite basketball, the budgets of each franchise have considerably increased as the seasons have passed, making free agency a place where more and more millions of dollars are being poured in. This is very good news for the entire league, knowing that its economic power is even greater than what it was in the past. But what happens when you don’t know how to spend your money wisely? Two words: total failure.
5. Nicolas Batum – Charlotte Hornets
In the final year of his deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, the French player was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for shooting guard Gerald Henderson and prospect Noah Vonleh. Batum did enough to impress the management of the team acquired by Michael Jordan in 2010, averaging 14.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists and nearly a steal per game.
Thus, the Eastern Conference team, which urgently needed to retain its talents, rewarded Nicolas’ performance with a new 5-year contract and $120 million dollars once the player became a free agent.
While the forward out of Lisieux had two years of decent performances at the beginning of his deal (13.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 141 games), the remaining years his performances would become a living hell for Charlotte (8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists in 97 games).
Batum would be released by the Hornets in the final year of his contract, during the 2020-2021 campaign.
4. Omer Asik – New Orleans Pelicans
After being traded by the Houston Rockets to the Pelicans the previous year, Asik completed his old contract, which was for 3 years and $25.1 million dollars with the New Orleans franchise, with statistics that were nothing special (9.8 rebounds, 7.3 points and 0.7 blocks in an average of 26 minutes during 76 games).
Becoming a free agent during the start of the 2015-2016 season, the Pelicans made the decision to retain him on their roster, but for the absurd amount of $44 million dollars over 4 years, which could become $60 million and 5 years if a number of requirements were met.
Needless to say, the Turkish center did not even reach half of the expectations on his contract, averaging 5.2 points, 7.6 rebounds in 20 minutes per game. In the third year of his deal, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in a package deal for Nikola Mirotic.
3. Joakim Noah – New York Knicks
Considered to be the worst contract in the franchise’s history, the veteran Frenchman had only played 29 games during his last stint with the Chicago Bulls. However, his performance was still considerably decent, averaging 8.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1 block in 21 minutes per game.
Among the infamous contracts signed in 2016 free agency, the Knicks joined the party by giving $72 million dollars to Noah for 4 years, who at 31 showed no signs of having that to give.
In his first year in the Big Apple, he played 46 games, averaging 5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists and was eventually cut from the team after there were arguments with the coach at the time, Jeff Hornacek. After that, he only managed to play 7 more games with the New York organization before being released to free agency after paying the remainder of his contract.
2. Chandler Parsons – Memphis Grizzlies
During his years with the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks, Parson’s talent was eye-catching. From 2012 through the end of the 2015-2016 season, he set a line of 15.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.1 steals with a 38% three-point efficiency. The most important thing about all this was that he managed to stay relatively healthy during these 4 years previously mentioned, playing a minimum of 60 games in each one.
As a free agent at the start of the 2016-2017 season, the Memphis Grizzlies did not resist temptation to bring in someone who could become a star in their lineup, and almost without any doubt, they agreed to a make a deal with the 27-year-old forward for $94 million dollars over the next 4 years.
Needless to say, the signing was a resounding failure. Parsons was never able to stay on the court for at least 40 games in a season for the Grizzlies. Not only that, but he also failed to perform anywhere near the value of his salary.
He averaged 7.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists on terrible field percentages (39.3% and 34.1% on three-pointers) in just 95 games during the first 3 years of his contract. His knee injuries were persistent and recurring, and they ended his chance to redeem himself in front of Memphis fans.
Chandler was traded in 2019 to the Atlanta Hawks for Solomon Hill and Miles Plumlee. Unfortunately, he was involved in a traffic accident, in which he suffered injuries that ended his professional career.
1. Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov – Los Angeles Lakers
Definitely, if anyone could be awarded for making the most worthless contract in NBA history, the Lakers would take both first and second place on the podium. After Kobe Bryant’s retirement, the gold and purple franchise had a lot of available salary but a lot of inexperience on its team, along with little chance of being contenders in the next few years.
In the midst of the desperation to fill the base salary cap for the start of the season, Los Angeles’ favorite team decided to ”be charitable” and made a deal with two of the least desired free agents at the time: small forward Luol Deng, and center Timofey Mozgov, both in their 30s , 31 and 30 respectively.
While Deng’s performance had been sufficient in his last instance with the Miami Heat (12.3 points, 6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1 steal per game), his defensive ability had been missing for a couple of years, injuries were recurring, and we knew his three-point shooting wasn’t going to reappear out of nowhere.
Mozgov was even worse, he warmed the bench with the Cleveland Cavaliers and he averaged 6.3 points, 4.4 rebounds. And even if he was a championship ring holder, it doesn’t justify the fact that the Lakers signed him to a 4-year, $64 million dollars deal. Deng was also signed for 4 years, but for the amount of $72 million dollars.
The Russian averaged 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in his only year with the Los Angeles team, only to be traded along with D’Angelo Russell, and the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft, for Brook Lopez and the rights to Kyle Kuzma the following year.
For the half-English half-Sudanese, Deng produced slightly more than Mozgov in his first year (7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 56 games), but then he got eternally tied to the bench, to the point where by the end of the 2018-2019 season they made an agreement to end their relationship. Until then, Luol Deng’s huge salary punished the Lakers’ budget like never before.
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