With the NBA's offseason business mostly complete and the 2026-27 campaign a couple months away, we're taking stock of how the league's stars measure up when it comes to trade value.
We've already broken down the Association's most valuable players, and we'll unveil the biggest bargains Thursday. Today, we're digging into the NBA's 10 worst contracts.
Two players you won't find listed here are Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker. That might seem surprising given that both stars are on supermax extensions that will pay them roughly 35% (or more) of the salary cap into their mid-30s. However, as explained in Part 1 of our series, those contracts may age poorly, but both players are durable, in-their-prime stars. Booker and Mitchell would likely still command notable hauls if traded today. The same can't be said for the 10 players on this list, some of whom would cost their teams draft capital rather than netting their clubs assets.
All contract figures courtesy of Spotrac. Asterisk denotes the final year is a player option. Age listed is as of Opening Night for the coming season. Percentage of cap is the projected average over the life of the contract.
Honorable mentions: Paul George (Celtics), Anthony Davis (Wizards), Immanuel Quickley (Raptors)
Age: 30
Contract: 2 years, $94.1M ($47M AAV, 27.8% of cap)
The final spot came down to Sabonis, George, and Davis, all of whom have up to two years remaining on their contracts. The latter two stars are much older than Sabonis and much higher paid, yet I've got the Kings big man here and his older counterparts as mere honorable mentions.
George served as the matching salary in a trade for a superior player (Jaylen Brown) only weeks ago, and his combination of shooting and defense still provides some semblance of value. Meanwhile, for as bloated as Davis' contract is and as injury-prone as the Wizards center remains, he's still a game-changing player when healthy. Davis is capable of tilting the balance of power with a trade to the right contender. Sabonis, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, is not.
Sabonis will rack up double-doubles while dazzling with his playmaking, but modern teams can't afford to pay max money for big men who don't protect the rim or space the floor. Among 76 bigs who defended at least 100 shots at the rim last season, Sabonis ranked 73rd in defensive field-goal percentage. Among the 97 players who matched or exceeded his usage rate, he ranked 90th in 3-point attempt rate.
Age: 24
Contract: 2 years*, $72.2M ($36.1M AAV, 21.4% of cap)
Green was a No. 2 overall draft pick five years ago, but his on-court impact has never lived up to the hype or his raw counting stats. Sure, Green has averaged 19.9 points per game for his career, but he ranked in the 13th percentile for points per shot attempt last season and the 29th percentile in assist-to-usage ratio, according to Cleaning The Glass. Green is an inefficient high-volume scorer with tunnel vision on the offensive end, and he's a poor defender. In short, he's a net negative who will be paid like a borderline All-Star for the next two seasons.
Age: 27
Contract: 2 years, $87.1M ($43.5M AAV, 25.7% of cap)
Morant, a two-time All-Star who should've ended up a bargain on his current contract, is saying the right things about maturing and accepting whatever role he's given in Portland. If he recaptures the magic that made him one of the league's most exhilarating players, his inclusion on this list, with only a couple years remaining on his deal, will seem silly. However, we can't ignore the facts: Morant is a non-shooting defensive liability whose game relies on his seemingly waning athleticism, and he's played just 79 games over the last three years. There's a reason Memphis dumped its former franchise player for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray.
Age: 25
Contract: 5 years, $125M ($25M AAV, 13.6% of cap)
Braun's place on this list is more about the length of his contract than the cap hit. If the youngster looks like the solid long-term starter Denver expected, no one will bat an eye at this deal. But Braun is coming off a disastrous season in which he shot 30% from deep and regressed defensively, then he somehow looked even worse during the Nuggets' short playoff run. Who wants such a player on their books for the next half-decade in the age of aprons? It doesn't help Braun's case in the court of public opinion that Denver has slashed costs elsewhere (see Peyton Watson) since extending him last October.
Age: 25
Contract: 3 years*, $54M ($18M AAV, 10.4% of cap)
Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 draft, has been a calamity for the Bulls. It's hard to think of one thing the big man does well, which explains why he lost his starting spot and probably would've fallen out of the Bulls' rotation last season had Chicago not begun rebuilding. Williams should be fighting for a job in the league. Instead, his contract has multiple years of guaranteed money remaining, multiple years of double-digit cap hits, and - for some reason - a player option.
Age: 27
Contract: 4 years, $64M ($16M AAV, 9% of cap)
Trent's new contract is so nonsensical that it immediately led to accusations of cap circumvention. Trent is a streaky scorer who can put up points in bunches and tilt the balance of a game every now and then. But he's also a one-way guard coming off his worst season since his rookie campaign and even lost his starting spot on a 50-loss Bucks team. Trent, who's only scored on above-average efficiency twice in eight years, is the definition of replaceable. And yet, after signing minimum contracts with Milwaukee each of the last two offseasons (despite being fresh off some of the best shooting performances of his career), he somehow cashed in when his value was at its lowest. Good luck moving this contract any time soon.
Age: 31
Contract: 4 years, $103.6M ($25.9M AAV, 14.5% of cap)
This is another contract in which the length is way worse than the money. At his best, Poeltl is an underrated center who's positionally sound defensively, a good playmaker, a great screener, and an elite offensive rebounder. However, he looked like a shell of himself last season due to a nagging back issue, and he's missed 93 games over the last three years.
Whether for their own short-term goals or for his contract's movability, the Raptors desperately need Poeltl to stay healthy and rebuild his value as a solid two-way center. What are the chances of that happening for a 30-something 7-footer with back issues? Poeltl's extension made little sense when Toronto signed him to the pact last summer. It only looks worse in hindsight.
Age: 28
Contract: 4 years, $221.7M ($55.4M AAV, 31% of cap)
Fox's toxic contract is masked by the Spurs' position as title contenders and the fact San Antonio's young stars are playing on their rookie-scale deals. However, those phenoms will eventually graduate to (likely) max extensions while Fox remains under contract, which will create problems. Can the Spurs move Fox, who might be the team's third-best guard, before that happens? It seems unlikely without attaching some of the team's draft capital to his mammoth deal.
That said, he isn't exactly dead weight. Before a disastrous 2026 postseason performance, Fox did earn an All-Star selection for averaging roughly 19 points and six assists while starting 72 games for a 62-win team.
Age: 28
Contract: 4 years*, $212.8M ($53.2M AAV, 29.8% of cap)
There's no justification for the contract Washington bestowed on Young this summer. Just months after his nonexistent trade market allowed the Wizards to acquire him in a salary dump (for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert), the club turned around and paid Young as if he were one of the league's most desirable stars.
Young's brilliant playmaking and limitless range make him look like one of the best offensive players on the planet when he's at his best. Yet he doesn't score efficiently enough to justify his ball dominance and doesn't do enough off the ball to fit in as a secondary scorer. Young is also one of the worst defenders in the league, his lone All-NBA selection came more than four years ago, and he's coming off an injury-riddled campaign in which he appeared in just 15 games. Does that sound like the type of player who should have the 11th-most money currently owed to him?
Age: 32
Contract: 3 years*, $187.9M ($62.6M AAV, 36% of cap)
Embiid is the best player on this list, but the fact that he struggles to suit up for even 50% of games while earning one of the league's biggest salaries (for the next three years) also gives him the league's worst contract.
In short bursts and random stretches, Embiid will remind us why he won MVP three years ago and why he was one of the 21st century's most dominant players. When Embiid's got it going, he remains an outrageously efficient scoring machine and a defensive game-changer. But an unfathomably long list of knee, foot, and other injuries have conspired to ensure those flashes are few and far between. He's missed 61% of Philadelphia's games over the last three seasons, and there's no reason to believe the aging behemoth will miraculously become more durable.
Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead NBA reporter.
