The 10 Best Finessed NBA Contracts in the Last 10 Years

Image via Complex Original

Team: Chicago Bulls

Year: 2006

Contract: 4 years, $60 million

Wallace will always be remembered for his elite defensive play on those 2000s Detroit Pistons teams. Based on that reputation alone, Wallace got a pretty big contract from the Bulls at the age of 32, even though it was clear that he was aging and his defensive presence was not as it once was. Offensively Wallace was always challenged, to say the least. For all their money, the Bulls only got a year and a half out of Wallace and watched his production dip on both sides of the ball before he got shipped to the Cavaliers in three team trade in February of 2008.

Team: Washington Wizards

Year: 2008

Contract: 6 years, $111 million

Now regarded as perhaps the worst contract in NBA history, Arenas was at one point a rising star in the NBA. Based on talent alone, the $100+ million contract doesn't seem that crazy and followed some impressive campaigns with the Wizards where Agent Zero averaged at least 22 points per game and nearly five assists. However, the year before he signed his massive deal, Arenas suffered a significant knee injury and he only played 13 games. And the first season of the deal he only played in two games. Before long, Arenas's once promising future started to sharply decline as he made more headlines for bringing a loaded gun into the Wizards' locker room than for his play on the hardwood. Arenas now claims he's strapped for cash, although he can always crash on his buddy Swaggy P's couch.

Team: Toronto Raptors

Year: 2009

Contract: 5 year, $50 million extension

The first overall pick of the 2006 NBA Draft, Bargnani was supposed to be the next great big man and a franchise player for the Raptors. And from the beginning, Bargnani was good but rarely showed true glimpses of being an impact player for the long haul north of the border. Despite never averaging more than 15.4 points and 5.3 boards per game in his first three seasons, the Raptors rewarded the big man with a huge extension. Bargnani peaked in the 2010-11 season when he averaged a career high 21.4 points per game, but the Raptors shipped Bargnani to the Knicks largely due to the massive amount of money remaining on his contract. 

Team: Brooklyn Nets

Year: 2012

Contract: 4 years, $40 million extension

The Nets were desperate to field a contending team when they arrived in Brooklyn and they overpaid for Wallace. Twice. In order to get him, they traded the sixth overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft—which turned out to be Damian Lillard—while they were still in New Jersey. They were expecting a top player who was a a double-double threat every night but in reality all they got was one year of semi-productive ball in which Wallace averaged 9.2 points per in 69 games. In fact, Wallace's signing was a panic move by the Nets who were worried they'd miss out on free agency and hoped Wallace would further entice Deron Williams to stick around and sign a long term deal with the club. Wallace was gone the following summer in the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce deal with the Celtics. 

Team: Cleveland Cavaliers

Year: 2015

Contract: 5 years, $82 million

Prior to the 2015 season, Thompson held out trying to get a better contract from the Cavaliers. LeBron James said Thompson deserved all the money coming off an impressive 2015 playoff run for the Cavs in which he averaged 9.6 points and 10.8 boards per game and emerged as a difference-maker. The Cavs gave him what he was looking for and it caught a lot of NBA observers by surprise. While Thompson turned out to be a very valuable player in the 2016 playoffs averaging 6.7 points and 9 boards a game as the Cavs won it all, is that really worth max money?  

Team: New York Knicks

Year: 2016

Contract: 4 years, $72 million

It wouldn’t be the New York Knicks unless they did something flashy and heavy handed. Aside from trading for Derrick Rose, they also signed Noah this past summer in what many believed was a pathetic attempt to recreate the magic the two enjoyed with the Bulls during the 2011 season. The only problem is that injuries have plagued Noah over the last several seasons and he played in a career low 29 games last season while appearing in more than 80 games only twice in nine seasons. The injury issues wouldn’t be as glaring if he was young, but Noah's already on the wrong side of 30 and will be eating into the Knicks' salary cap until he's 34. 

Team: Los Angeles Lakers

Year: 2016

Contract: 4 years, $64 million

Averaging a career 6.9 points and 5.1 boards per game, the 7'1" center is scheduled to make more in 2016 than two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry. But good for Mozgov for managing to cash out on a desperate Lakers team this past summer looking for a big body. What can the Lakers expect for their investment? Injuries and bad play led Mozgov to the bench for most of the 2016 playoff run while he was with the Cavs. He played only 27 minutes across the NBA Finals and while he's showed glimpses of being an impact player during his stints with the Cavs and Nuggets, he's the poster boy for the new NBA where back-up big man can average over $15 million a season. 

Team: New Orleans Pelicans

Year: 2016

Contract: 4 years, $52 million

Who? Don’t worry if you never heard of Hill before, many fans had to Google his name after seeing that he got $52 million this summer. In three years in the league, Hill has averaged 6 points, 1.5 assists, and 3.1 rebounds a game. Not sure what $52 million is about.

Team: Washington Wizards

Year: 2016

Contract: 4 years, $64 million

Mahinmi isn’t a terrible player but he certainly isn’t a particularly good one, either. As a big man his averages of 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game for his career could be worse. But for $64 million, I’m sure you can do better, too. His current numbers with the Wizards (9.1 points, 4.3 boards per) are the best he’s done in his eight year career. In fact, his production was essentially double his career line up to that point in that contract year. 

Team: Miami Heat

Year: 2016

Contract: 4 years, $50 million

The 24-year-old guard was never a highly touted prospect. Coming out of Fresno State undrafted, most assumed Johnson wouldn’t amount to much. But his athleticism and defensive abilities earned him playing time and the Heat saw him as a rising player. Fate had him being a restricted free agent in the crazy 2016 offseason and the Brooklyn Nets offered a massive contract which the Heat matched. Johnson has potential and perhaps he'll match it with his production this season, but $50 million? That's a finesse.