Basketball is one sport followed passionately and religiously by millions of fans all over the world. The sport has produced notable great players like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, the late Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and several other legends who we still remember fondly till date.
While playing basketball has brought many fame and fortune, we have also seen our favorite players sign phenomenal contracts. There are a few however who have signed fantastic contracts but never lived up to expectations.
We will be looking at the 10 Worst Contracts signed by players in NBA history in more details – unraveling what went wrong in their deals.
Worst Contracts in NBA History
1. Johnathan Wall: Washington Wizards, a 4-year contract worth $170 million (2017)
John Wall came to basketball prominence playing college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats for about a year. He decided to forgo his remaining 3 years of collegiate eligibility in 2010 and was the first pick of the NBA team, Washington Wizards. He was offered a contract right away and got on to doing what he knows best.
Wall is/was a very good speedy point guard with impressive returns in his career, earning him a 5x NBA All-Star selection. In 2017, he signed another contract with the Wizards for $170, but the problem was that he wasn’t really the player that he once was with the injuries that have plagued his career. He’s not getting any younger by the day, and many believe that he would never come near his erstwhile sterling performances of the past and is currently on a decline.
Unfortunately for the wizards, they still have to honor his contract paying him $46 million a year, even if he does not play.
2. Chris Paul: Houston Rockets, a 4-year contract worth $160 million, 2018
Chris rose to basketball stardom playing for the New Orleans Hornets from 2005. In 2007, he made a new Rookie Challenge record with 9 steals and 17 assists. He is not new to putting in great performances and earning really lucrative contracts until the unbelievable fortunes smiled on him a few years later.
In 2018, after a very impressive first season with the Houston Rockets, Chris was rewarded with a new 4-year max deal worth $160 million. The problem with the deal was that a few nagging injuries caused a drastic reduction in performance and output from Chris; his scoring and assists averages dipped sharply and he never got back to perform at his best. Many consider his contract to be one of the worst in NBA history to date.
3. Andrew Wiggins: Minnesota Timberwolves, a 5-year contract worth $148 million, 2017
Canadian born Andre Wiggins has been with the Minnesota Timberwolves all his professional life since he was traded to them from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 – winning the Rookie of the Year award from the NBA in his first season. The next 2 seasons saw him better his best the previous year and his career looked destined to only get better from then on.
In 2017, he was rewarded with a $ 148 million contract for the next 5 years. During the 2018-19 season after a few injuries his game was on the decline with his shooting accuracy seemingly “gone out the window”. He seems to have lost his mojo presently, fans can only hope that he gets it back soon,
Read Also: 10 Most Expensive Divorce in Sports History
4. Chris Webber: Sacramento Kings, a 7-year contract worth $127 million, 2001
Webber initially began his professional NBA career as a first draft pick of the Orlando Magic, who in turn traded him off to the Golden State Warriors for the 1993-94 season.
In 1998, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings from the Washington Wizards. In 2001, he signed a whopping 7-year contract worth $ 127 million with the team with the hope of making the team better off for it. He sustained a few injuries after signing the contract and his performance began to decline and the fortunes of the team didn’t fare any better. After losing a series of very important games, he was finally traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2005. He was offered a phenomenal contract to lead his team to success, but he didn’t really live up to the billing, making his contract rank as one of the worst in NBA history.
5. Kevin Love: Cleveland Cavaliers, Contract Extension worth $120 million for 4 years
Kevin Love was traded to the Cavaliers from the Timberwolves in the 2014-15 season, with Anthony Bernett and Andrew Wiggins going the other way in the exchange. He rewarded his team by helping them win 34 out of their final 43 games, helping the team finish as the # 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
When LeBron James left the Cavaliers in 2018, the Cavaliers wanted to secure Love for a while more and gave him a 4-year contract worth about $120 million. Shortly after signing the contract, Love suffered a toe injury which made it quite uncomfortable for him to be at his best. A few other injuries followed and Love has not returned back to his best form, and now that he’s 32 years old, trading him to another team is definitely not an appealing proposition, leaving the Cavaliers stuck with an underperforming player with a huge contract.
6. Nicolas Batum: Charlotte Hornets, a 5-year deal worth $120 million, 2016
Batum had always shown great promise to be a great player from his youth, and when he made the move from the French basketball league to the NBA, he was snapped up by the Portland Trailblazers and played for about 7 years.
He was traded to the Hornets in 2015 in exchange for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henerson; he put in some impressive displays for his team beating some personal records. He was rewarded with a new contract in July 2016 worth $120 million, and due to a string of injuries and decline in form, things haven’t really worked out for him at the Hornets. He admitted in an interview to not performing well, but that doesn’t stop the contract, does it?
7. Gilbert Arenas: Washington Wizards, a 6-year deal worth $111 million in 2008
Arenas had the option of joining 3 teams in the NBA after he became a restricted free agent post the 2002-03 season. He was reportedly believed to have flipped a coin to choose his next team, which was the Washington Wizards for the next season, grabbing a 6 year $60 million deal which couldn’t be matched by the Warriors then. In 2008, on the verge of leaving the Wizards, he was offered a new deal worth $111 million for the next 6 years.
Arena had a firearm violation incident in the locker room and also violated the state’s code in 2009 which led to an indefinite suspension from the team. He returned to action later, but his performances didn’t just cut it anymore. He was traded off to the Orlando Magic in 2010.
8. Allan Houston: New York Knicks, a 6-year contract worth $100 million, 2001
Houston was signed as a free agent by the Knicks in 1996 and he played his heart out for them, so it didn’t really surprise anyone when he was given a new contract in 2001 worth $ 100 million for 6 years.
The problem with Houston’s contract began a few years later when he sustained a series of injuries that kept him on the sidelines before ultimately ruling him out totally in 2005, forcing him into early retirement. Unfortunately, he still had 2 years left on his contract which the Knicks had to still honor – this led to the “Allan Houston Rule” to safeguard teams against such situations in the future.
Read Also: 10 Worst Contracts In EPL History: What Went Wrong?
9. Joakim Noah: New York Knicks, a 4-year contract worth $72 million, 2016
Noah, a 2x NBA All-Star and 2014 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, had built a very impressive career playing for the Chicago Bulls for about 9 years.
In 2016, he signed a 4-year deal worth $ 72 million with the New York Knicks which raised quite a few eyebrows at the time. His travails and decline started the following year with a knee injury that needed surgery to get rid of a loose body, then he received a 20 game suspension for violating the NBA leagues anti+drug regime, and things seemed to go downhill from then on. He never really got to play much for the team, and things became worse with an altercation with his coach. He was released by the Knicks midway into his contract, and many still think his deal was probably one of the worst in the NBA history ever.
10. Joe Smith; Minnesota Timberwolves, a 3-year contract worth $61 million per season, 1998
Joe Smith began his professional career with the Golden State Warriors in 1995, and though he wasn’t a franchise-changing player or a top-notch one, he still played a decent game a commanded a respectable market value, having turned down an $80 million contract extension offer from the Warriors.
In 1998, when he chose to sign a 3-year contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves for about $ 1 million a season, it raised a few eyebrows. Later it was revealed when his agent sued his former agency over Smith’s contract, that he had agreed to sign the deal way below his market value so that the team can have funds to sign other players, and give him up to $86 million worth deal in the future. The revelation got the Timberwolves in a lot of trouble – including a $ 3.5 million fine and suspension from first draft picks for 5 years. Smith’s experience still remains probably the worst NBA Contracts in history and a lesson on how not to sign a deal to date.
Discussion about this post