10 Worst NBA Contracts

The 2023 NBA free agency frenzy is underway. A lot of cash will be handed out over the next few weeks, so we decided to get out in front of those deals and list the worst contracts currently on the books across the NBA.

What follows is our list of the 10 player contracts in the league right now.

This is easily the worst contract in the NBA at the moment. Ben Simmons is a three-time All-Star and a has made three All-Defensive teams, but those days are long behind him. The Philadelphia 76ers signed the former No. 1 overall pick to a five-year, $177 million extension back in 2019 and it has been a disaster. The Sixers unloaded him on the Nets in February of 2022, in the middle of a year-long holdout. He finally got back on the court this season and averaged career-lows in points (6.9), rebounds (6.3), assists (6.1), steals (1.3) free throw percentage (43.9) and minutes (26.3). He’s a shell of his former self and has had repeated back issues.

Simmons has two years and $78 million left on his contract and it will be nearly impossible for the Nets to ship him out because no one wants to touch that deal.

Bertans looked like a rising player when the Washington Wizards gave him a five-year, $80 million extension in November of 2020. A 6-foot-10, floor-stretching forward, Bertans looked like a great fit in the modern NBA. He got that contract coming off a career-year in which he averaged 15.4 points, and 4.5 rebounds per game while hitting 42.4 percent from 3-point range. He’s never gotten close to that level again.

Things got so bad the Wizards shipped Bertans to Dallas as nothing more than salary ballast in the Kristaps Porzingis trade. With the Mavericks this past season he averaged 4.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game. The Mavs sent him to the Thunder on draft night, allowing OKC to jump from No. 12 to No. 10 by taking on the 30-year-old’s contract. He’s set to make $33 million over the next two seasons.

In December of 2020, the Jazz signed Gobert to a five-year, $205 million extension. At the time, it was the third largest deal in NBA history. He was coming off back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year seasons and had been an All-Star for the first time in 2020. But many questioned the deal, given Gobert was limited offensively at center and didn’t fit the modern NBA. Those detractors wound up being right. Gobert’s defensive ability began to wane with age, and the Jazz traded him to the Timberwolves after the 2021-22 season.

This past season in Minnesota, Gobert’s numbers were down across the board, as he averaged 13.4 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. The 31-year-old is a rapidly declining player and Minnesota is on the hook for more than $131 million over the next three years. It’s an ugly deal.

Back in 2020, the Hornets signed Hayward to a four-year, $120 million contract and precisely no one thought it made sense. He had never lived up to the big deal the Celtics gave him in three seasons with Boston thanks to injuries, and it felt like a crazy overpay. That turned out to be true. Hayward has put up some solid numbers in Charlotte but has been declining for years. During the 2022-23 season, he averaged 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 31.5 minutes per game while only hitting 32.5 percent from 3-point range. He’s putting up numbers on a terrible team.

The 33-year-old Hayward is due to make $31.5 million in the final year of his deal and it’s a painful one for Charlotte.

After landing Harris in a trade from the Clippers in 2019, the Sixers panicked that summer and gave him a five-year, $180 million extension so as not to risk losing his services. It was a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, Harris has been an effective player — particularly as a perimeter scorer — but he’s not worth an average of $36 million a year. Last season, Harris averaged 14.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while hitting 38.9 percent from 3-point range. That scoring average is his worst since 2016 (four teams ago) and the rebounding number is his worst since 2018.

Harris is due to make $39.3 million for the 2023-24 season. That’s superstar money for a guy who has never made an All-Star or All-NBA team.

Beal is still really good, but the Washington Wizards have to be thrilled they got out from under this contract by shipping him to the Phoenix Suns. The 30-year-old is about to enter the second year of a five-year, $251 million deal. The final season of that contract is a player option for $57.1 million. He’ll almost certainly be opting in to that. During the 2022-23 season, Beal averaged 23.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 33.5 minutes per game, while hitting 36.5 percent from 3-point range. That’s a far cry from the 31.3 points per game he averaged back during the 2020-21 season.

The Suns are on the hook for $208 million over the next four seasons for Beal. It’s a massive deal for a player who will likely be the third option behind Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

The…