Every NBA team makes mistakes, some bigger than others. If each team could take a mulligan on a contract from the past few seasons, here's how they'd likely use it.
Every NBA team faces the same challenge — building a contender out of a collection of draft picks, hundreds of millions of dollars and the legacy of whatever deals are already on the books. From those circumstances, they craft the best trades, extensions and free-agent signings they can muster and mistakes are inevitable.
Sometimes they overpay. Sometimes they gamble on potential that is never realized. Sometimes bad luck with injuries turns a smart contract into a disaster. Sometimes they find themselves signing the wrong player, or the right player at the wrong time. Sometimes it's just about how a reasonable contract shut the door on some future opportunity that might have worked out better.
Luckily, hindsight is 20/20, giving me the confidence to second-guess the decision-making of every team's GM and point out their biggest mistakes.
Here is the one contract every NBA team would like back if given the chance:
Atlanta Hawks: John Collins
Over the past two seasons, the Hawks paid Collins roughly $48 million to play in 125 of a possible 164 games, averaging 14.5 points and 7.1 rebounds. To his credit, Collins did his best as the Hawks increasingly slid him into a role for which he terribly suited — stationary spot-up threat from the corners, defending 3s and 4s — and destroyed his trade value by constantly shopping him without actually agreeing to any number of reasonable deals.
In the end, the Hawks sent Collins to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick just to dump the final three seasons of his contract. There may not be any direct, long-term consequences of the decision to sign Collins to that five-year, $125 million extension back in 2021. But they spent a lot of money on a player whose potential they squandered, stubbornly holding out for a dream trade until all that was left was a salary dump. In retrospect, they probably could have gotten a lot more value for their money by just spending it somewhere else.
Boston Celtics: Danilo Gallinari
There's now way the Celtics could have known Danilo Gallinari would tear his ACL less than two months after they signed him to a two-year, $13.3 million contract last summer. At the time, it looked like an absolute steal but ended up as a $6 million investment in a player who never played a minute for them.
The Celtics did get some value from his contract, rolling it into the recent trade with the Wizards that brought back Kristaps Porzingis. Gallinari was reportedly looking forward to returning to the Celtics and could have been a difference-maker this season, but the chance to get Porzingis was apparently too good for the Celtics to pass up. That all means the Celtics might not take a do-over on the Gallinari contract right now, but in the middle of the postseason as they struggled to stay alive against the Miami Heat they probably would have thought differently.
At that price range, they could have theoretically ended up with alternatives like JaMychal Green, Mike Muscala, Juan Tuscano-Anderson, Lonnie Walker IV, Bruce Brown, Taurean Prince or Donte DiVincenzo. None of those players, on their own, could have changed how last season ended for the Celtics. But at least they would have had one more experienced and available rotation player to turn to.
Brooklyn Nets: Kyrie Irving
This one, hopefully, goes without saying. The Brooklyn Nets signed Kyrie Irving to a four-year, $136 million contract in the summer of 2019. For all that money, they got Kyrie available for 163 games across 3.5 seasons, a 7-13 record in the playoffs, public relations nightmares around the efficacy of COVID vaccines and anti-semitism and, finally, a mid-season trade demand.
After all that, the Nets were forced to trade Kyrie to the Mavericks for Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie a future first-round pick and two future second-round picks. This was among the most disastrous and disappointing eras of Nets basketball, which is saying something, and it all could have been avoided if they had just said "thanks, but no thanks" to Kyrie Irving.
Irving re-signed with the Mavericks this offseason and nearly every Nets fan is thrilled to see him be someone else's problem for the next few years.
Charlotte Hornets: Gordon Hayward
To be clear, Gordon Hayward has not been a disaster. The Hornets acquired him before the 2020-21 season in a sign-and-trade with the Celtics, inking him to a four-year, $120 million deal. He's been productive in a Hornets' uniform, averaging 16.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists per game, shooting 38.1 percent from beyond the arc. The problem is how rarely he's been in a Hornets uniform and how little his production has mattered to the team's bottom line.
Hayward has appeared in just 143 of a possible 236 games over the past three seasons, just over 60 percent. And over that same stretch, the Hornets have posted a 0.436 win percentage, missing the playoffs all three times. Hayward's struggles to stay healthy haven't been the only issue in Charlotte. But investing $120 million in him was an attempt to go all in on competitiveness with a core of Hayward, Terry Rozier, LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges and that era has run its course.
It's not clear that the Hornets would have been better off not signing Hayward three years ago, but if they had a time machine they might like to go back and try something else.
Chicago Bulls: Lonzo Ball
Lonzo Ball made all the sense in the world when the Bulls acquired him in a sign-and-trade with the Pelicans, on a four-year, $80 million deal. He had emerged as a special backcourt defender, a strong offensive connector and a reliable outside shooter, hitting 37.6 percent of his 3s in his two seasons in New Orleans.
Since then, he's been plagued by a knee injury and ongoing pain that hasn't been relieved at all by multiple surgeries. He didn't play at all last season, meaning he's played just 35 of a possible 164 games over the first two years of the deal.
The Bulls lost a second-round pick for tampering in a penalty levied by the league for improper negotiations on the deal. They also sent their 2024 second-round pick to New Orleans, along with Tomas Satoransky, who the Pelicans traded to the Trail Blazers as part of the package they used to acquire CJ McCollum. So in addition to the $80 million, they also gave up a pair of second-round picks and a useful salary that could have been included in another deal.
Even if Ball is able to come back healthy at some point, they've already wasted two seasons and more than $40 million.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Kevin Love
Once Kyrie Irving and LeBron James left the Cavs, it seemed certain that Kevin Love would be the next to go. As the team turned toward rebuilding there wasn't an obvious need for an aging stretch-4 with championship experience. Still, in July of 2018, the Cavaliers signed him to a four-year, $120 million contract that seemed destined to be a mistake.
Love did mount a serious Sixth Man of the Year campaign for the resurgent Cavs in the 2021-22 season. But over the first two years of the deal, he appeared in just 83 total games. His numbers were solid when he was on the floor but those times were far and few between. Last season, the final year of the deal, he fell out of the rotation completely and was eventually bought out, signing with the Miami Heat.
Love made huge contributions the Cavs' historic 2016 championship but Cleveland ended up paying for those contributions years after the fact.
Dallas Mavericks: Jason Kidd
I'm cheating a bit by going to the bench, especially with so many other candidates to choose from — four years and $75 million for Tim Hardaway Jr. in 2021, three years and $17 million for JaVale McGee last offseason. And a few months from now Kyrie Irving's latest contract will almost certainly take this spot.
But for now, let's point at Jason Kidd who has two more years on a four-year deal as Mavs head coach. Over the first half of that contract, he has led the Mavs to an 80-74 record, repeatedly blamed everyone else for the team's struggles, assembled baffling rotation and invisible in-game adjustments while alienating several of the team's best players.
This team is in an incredibly combustible situation and keeping Kidd on the bench is adding a steady stream of gasoline.
Denver Nuggets: Will Barton
Every decision the Nuggets' front office, success and failures, helped bring them to the NBA championship last season. And almost any fan would probably happily deal with the same frustrations of the past five or six years knowing this would be the end result. Still, there might have been a shortcut or two they missed.
In 2021, the Nuggets signed Will Barton to a two-year, $30 million deal. At that point, he'd played more than six seasons in Denver, had been extremely productive and seemed viable as a third scorer and creator with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. But his 3-point shooting dropped off sharply in the first year of his new deal and his defensive shortcomings seemed like a bigger and bigger problem. The Nuggets ultimately flipped him to the Wizards with Monte Morris for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — again, all's well that ends well. But the Nuggets might have found a cheaper or easier replacement earlier on.
Detroit Pistons: Marvin Bagley III
In a vacuum, taking flyers on talented young players when their cost is dropping is exactly the kind of thing a rebuilding team needs to do when their books are mostly clear. But in retrospect, the Pistons might want a mulligan on Marvin Bagley.
They traded for him during the 2021-22 season, saw him for 18 games over the rest of the regular season and then signed him to a three-year, $37.5 million deal. It seemed like a reasonable gamble on the former No. 2 pick who had struggled to stay healthy and find a niche in Sacramento. But his injury struggles have continued — he appeared in just 42 games for Detroit last season and has now played in 208 of a possible 390 (53. percent) games across his five-year career.
He's been productive in Detroit when he was on the court but the have him on the books for two more years and their frontcourt rotation has become increasingly crowded with Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart and James Wiseman at least as much potential as Bagley and needing developmental minutes. And then there is Bojan Bogdanovic who will likely continue to play a lot of his minutes at the 4.
Bagley might still become an important piece for the Pistons but it seems just as likely he gets squeezed out and the Pistons have to try and dump his contract later this year to make room for rookie extensions for Wiseman, Stewart and Killian Hayes.
Golden State Warriors: Jordan Poole
The Warriors did well to turn Poole's four-year, $128 million contract into Chris Paul for next season but they might have had a lot more options if they had never offered him that much in the first place.
Offering him that extension last summer was reportedly one of the reasons they didn't negotiate an extension with Draymond Green before last season, and, again, reportedly, a big part of the preseason fight between Green and Poole that seemed to be a drag on the team's chemistry last year.
Twelve months ago, Poole looked like an important piece for the future but the deal seemed like an overpay at the time and it was clear they were sacrificing a good deal of flexibility by planning around him as a potential centerpiece for the next iteration of this team. Hindsight is 20/20 but keeping Green happy, working to pay Poole significantly less or simply trading him when his value was high might have put the Warriors in a better position.
Houston Rockets: Dillon Brooks
This one is brand new but it's so egregious I just can't help but point it out. With as much cap space as anyone in the league, the Rockets decided to spend $80 million over four years on Brooks.
To be fair, he's a good wing defender. He's also a technical foul machine who can't go a week without creating a new beef, several of which turned out to be actively harmful to the Memphis Grizzlies' season outcome. He's also posted a true shooting percentage of 50.7 over the past three seasons — dead last among the 93 players who have attempted at least 2,000 shots over that span.
He's going to want shots and he's going to miss a metric ton of them. He may help ramp up the team's intensity but they could have found a similar veteran leader to do the same thing without all the baggage. And his contract will still be on the books as they're making decisions on rookie extensions for Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun, Tari Eason and Josh Christopher, severely limiting their cap space in those crucial seasons.
It's going to be a disaster.
Indiana Pacers: Deandre Ayton
Last summer the Pacers signed Ayton to a four-year, $132 million offer sheet which was ultimately matched by the Phoenix Suns. Given how things worked out since then, it may seem like they dodged some bad luck. Ayton was underwhelming with the Suns and could be traded. The Pacers meanwhile were able to use a hot start to smooth Myles Turner's ruffled feathers and convince him to sign an extension. In retrospect, the Pacers are probably very happy with how things turned out.
BUT, if they hadn't signed Ayton to that offer sheet they might have been able to get Turner on an extension that was longer and cheaper than the two-year, $40 million one they ultimately signed him to. By making Ayton that offer, they also missed an opportunity to get a better, different fit in last free agency — someone like Kyle Anderson, Yuta Watanabe, or Bruce Brown (for less than they paid him this year).
Again, the Pacers ended up in a fine spot. But that's because they caught a bunch of breaks at the beginning of last season which helped them undo their early summer mistake.
Los Angeles Clippers: Kawhi Leonard
If they had the chance to go back and do it again, the Clippers very well might make the same gamble — trading Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and a mountain of first-round picks for Paul George and then committing an additional four years and nearly $340 million to him and Kawhi Leonard. The George half of the plan has been just a subtle disappointment but the Leonard half has been a disaster.
In the first two years of his four-year extension, Leonard has played just 52 total games. The Clippers have shown flashes of contender-level play when he's been on the court but that's been less than a third of their games and there's not much reason for optimism about his health and availability over the last two years of the deal.
Going all in on Leonard and George was a no-brainer at the time, and their talent is such that with a time machine, the Clippers might make all the same choices and hope for healthy outcomes. But they could also just as easily be built around essentially the same core as Thunder right now, a team with a much brighter future.
Los Angeles Lakers: Talen Horton-Tucker
At one point, Talen Horton-Tucker looked like one of the indispensable pieces of the Lakers' future, a talented young guard who had LeBron's favor and was protected through multiple round of trade discussions as they looked to acquire another star. In 2021, they signed him to a three-year, $30 million deal fresh off a season in which he averaged 9.0 points, 2.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals in just over 20 minutes per game.
In the first year of that deal, his shooting percentages absolutely cratered and it was increasingly clear there was no room for him in a rotation starved for shooting and secondary creation (he had made 27.6 percent of his 3s through his first three seasons at that point).
The Lakers didn't do anything to really recoup value from his deal — trading him to the Jazz at the end of that season for Patrick Beverley, who was himself a disaster and traded for Mo Bamba, who was himself a disaster and eventually released.
Memphis Grizzlies: Dillon Brooks
Dillon Brooks, the only player who made the list twice. We've already gone over his brand-new deal with the Rockets. But the Grizzlies might also like a mulligan on the one he just finished, a three-year, $35 million extension he signed in February 2020. As previously mentioned, he was the least efficient shooter in the entire league over the duration of that deal. His defense was good but FiveThirtyEight's RAPTOR metric estimated he was still worth minus-0.5 points for every 100 possessions he was on the floor.
For what they've been paying him the past three seasons, the Grizzlies could have theoretically signed players like Doug McDermott, Josh Hart, Alex Caruso, Kelly Oubre Jr. or P.J. Tucker, all of whom seem like they would have been a much better net value proposition and a lot more enjoyable for Grizzlies' fans to watch.
Miami Heat: Duncan Robinson
For most of the past two years, Duncan Robinson has been viewed as one of the worst contracts in the entire league. The Heat signed him to a five-year, $90 million contract in August of 2021, coming on the heels of two consecutive seasons of lights-out shooting for the former undrafted free agent. Across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Robinson started 140 of 145 games hitting 42.7 percent of more than eight 3-point attempts per game.
The deal was a record for an undrafted free agent and came in the same summer the Heat signed Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler to a max extension. However, Duncan's shooting percentages immediately declined, dropping under 38 percent in 2021-22 and to 32.8 percent this season when he saw his regular-season role dramatically reduced. Altogether, Robinson, who was signed to be an elite floor-spacer, has started just 69 of 164 possible games and made just 36.2 percent of his 3s in the first two years of this deal.
Robinson has played well in the NBA Finals, rebuilding some of his reputation, but the Heat will still be paying on this deal for three more years. Even if they'd been able to sign him for a five-year deal at a lower, non-record-breaking salary they'd have extra financial flexibility to keep tweaking their roster toward a title.
Milwaukee Bucks: Grayson Allen
Allen started 70 games for the Milwaukee Bucks last season, playing out the first year of the two-year, $18 million extension he signed in October of 2021. He's been a solid outside shooter in a Bucks uniform, hitting 40.4 percent of his 3s and he's done his job as a defender in the Bucks scheme, pushing penetration towards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez. But he's often been ill-prepared and under-equipped to provide any meaningful complementary creation or enough of a threat to keep the Bucks halfcourt offense from collapsing in the postseason.
That's not all on Grayson, injuries, scheme and circumstances have all been big problems. But the money they spent on him this past year, and this coming season, could be paying for someone who solves more pressing problems.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Malik Beasley
In November of 2020, Beasley and the Timberwolves agreed on a four-year, $60 million deal. At that point, he had played just 14 games for the Timberwolves after coming over in a trade from the Denver Nuggets the previous season. In his two years in Minnesota his shooting percentages and 3-point percentages steadily dropped each season from what he posted during that first 14-game stint.
After shooting under 40 percent from the field and just 35.7 percent from beyond the arc in the 2021-22 season he was traded to the Utah Jazz as part of the Rudy Gobert deal. From there, he was traded to the Lakers, fell completely out of the postseason rotation and had his team option for next season declined, making him a free agent. He will play for the Bucks next season on a one-year deal for less than $3 million.
Suffice it to say the Timberwolves could have gotten better value for their money.
New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson
Given how well he's played when healthy, and given how much buzz their was about friction between him and the organization and an impending trade demand it was a no-brainer for the Pelicans to sign him to a five-year, $197 million extension as soon as they had the chance.
But there are two relevant data points — that extension hasn't even started yet and will last through Zion's age-27 season, and Zion has played just 114 games across the first four seasons of his career.
The Pelicans are committed to playing nearly $200 million over the next five years for a player they simply can't count on being healthy and available. They were rumors they were open to trade offers this summer and obviously didn't see anything overwhelming. Every game he misses is also another reason for another team NOT to trade for him and it's a long time before the end of that contract could make it an appealing trade asset.
The Pelicans didn't really have a choice. But they have landed in an absolutely unenviable position.
New York Knicks: Julius Randle
Randle has been a phenomenal regular season player and a huge piece of the resurgent Knicks and their two postseason appearances in three seasons. He's also been an epic disaster in the playoffs and it's clear his offensive limitations could put something of a ceiling on the Knicks' aspirations of leaping into championship contention.
The Knicks signed him to a four-year, $117 million extension in August of 2021 and he's under contract for the next three seasons with the largest cap hit on the team, roughly $30 million per season. With his unique combination of strengths and weaknesses and weighty contract, there's almost no way they can trade him which means they're probably doomed to play out the repercussions of this decision until the summer of 2026.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Lu Dort
It's tough to quibble too much with the Thunder, one of the youngest teams in the league who was on the verge of a playoff appearance last season. They have a budding star in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a slew of other incredible young players, a mountain of draft picks and an extremely clean cap sheet.
They have to spend their money somehow to get to the salary floor and the five-year, $82 million contract Lu Dort is playing in doesn't really hurt them that much or limit their future flexibility. But his offensive limitations are coming into sharper focus and it's clear that the Thunder are playing a lot of money for what amounts to a defensive specialist.
Again, if this is their biggest problem, they're in amazing shape. But what Dort is easily the most replaceable of any of their core contributors and will have one of the highest cap hits on the team for the next few seasons.
Orlando Magic: Jonathan Isaac
Isaac looked like a budding two-way star when the Magic signed him to a four-year, $70 million contract in December of 2020. But injuries have thrown an absolute brick wall in the middle of his career and he's played just 11 games over the past three seasons. His deal is only partially guaranteed for this coming season and not guaranteed at all for the following season, the final one of the deal.
At this point it seems clear, he'll never be the same player again and it's unlikely he actually plays out the end of this deal for Orlando.
Philadelphia 76ers: Tobias Harris
Has been a reliable third fiddle for the 76ers over the first four years of the five-year, $180 million deal he signed before the 2019-20 season. He's averaged 17.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, shooting 37.8 percent from beyond the arc. His numbers have been remarkably similar in the playoffs, with the exception of his 3-point shooting which has dropped to 35.3 percent.
Again, he's been a solid, reliable complementary contributor. But he's been doing it for roughly $36 million per season. In each of the past three seasons, he's been one of the 15 highest-paid players in the league. But he's never been anywhere close to being one of the 15 best players in the league.
That disparity has made him the target of plenty of vitriol from 76ers fans but it's important to remember that his contract has been a much bigger problem than his production. And that's the front office's fault, not his.
Phoenix Suns: Landry Shamet
Teams can never have too much shooting, especially with a dynamic core scoring core like Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton. All that is to say, on paper, Landry Shamet made a lot of sense for the Suns when they signed him to a four-year, $43 million deal two seasons.
But injuries disrupted both of his seasons with the Suns, he never seemed able to transcend his role and even struggled within it. Shamet made 39.7 percent through his first three seasons but just 37.1 percent in his two seasons with Phoenix, and just 38.7 percent from the field overall. He couldn't threaten the defense off the dribble and was repeatedly targeted off the dribble. In the end, roughly $11 million per season turned out to be way too much for a one-dimensional shooting specialist who wasn't all that special — which is why Shamet was rolled into the Bradley Beal deal and shipped out to Washington this summer.
Sacramento Kings: Richaun Holmes
Holmes had developed into a very capable rotation big, averaging 13.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game in the two seasons before the Kings signed him to a four-year, $46 million extension. But over the first two years of that deal, he appeared in just 87 games and was made almost entirely redundant by the acquisition of Domantas Sabonis.
With two years left on the deal and the Kings needing cap space for meaningful moves this season, they had to package the No. 24 pick just to get the Mavs to absorb his contract into their cap space, setting up a salary dump.
Holmes is still just 29 and could be a very useful piece for the Mavs this season. But his contract never really worked out for the Kings and having to give up a pick just to get rid of it adds insult to injury.
San Antonio Spurs: Umm…..
The Spurs have been actively rebuilding for a while and, although they've taken on some bad contracts in trades, it was always intentional to acquire other assets and it's hard to find a bad contract that they've actually negotiated in recent history.
Over the past four years, the only non-rookie contracts they've signed with an average annual value of over $7 million were Zach Collins (three years, $22 million), Tre Jones (two years, $10 million), Cedi Osman (four years, $31 million), Rudy Gay (two years, $32 million) and Keldon Johnson (four years, $73 million).
All of those deals worked out great for San Antonio or current deals that seem like great values moving forward. I don't like breaking the rules of my own self-created though exercise but I just have to give the Spurs a mulligan on seeking a mulligan.
Toronto Raptors: Otto Porter Jr.
There are certainly some bigger contracts the Raptors might like to reconsider terms on but Porter Jr.'s deal is just too clean-cut to ignore. He was a key piece for the Warriors title-winning team in 2022 with his shooting and defensive versatility and signed a two-year, $13.5 million contract with the Raptors (with a player option on the second year) last summer. In a season where the Raptors melted down and had to consider trading everyone, they got just eight games from Porter Jr. because of injury.
As they try to stay competitive next season, Porter Jr. of course picked up his player option, chewing up valuable cap space. He's still not healthy and a big unknown for the Raptors going into next season. If Masai Ujiri could take this one back you can be almost certain he would.
Utah Jazz: Maybe Jordan Clarkson?
Now that I broke the seal and let the Spurs off the hooks, I have to consider it for the Jazz as well. They signed some deals that looked shaky in hindsight — Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell — but they were all reasonable in chase of a championship and they were able to get off all of them without too much trouble, setting themselves up nicely for a rebuild.
Looking at the deals they've signed since last summer, there aren't really any eyesores, even if four years and $79 million for Collin Sexton turns out to be too big a gamble. All I'm really left with is the four-year, $51 million contract they signed Jordan Clarkson to in 2020. But they've gotten decent value from the deal and even if he just opted into the final year, chewing up anticipated cap space, they can still trade him at the deadline this year to recoup some value. But I guess if he plays out the deal and they can't find a good trade, maybe this is regrettable.
Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal
The Wizards finally managed to extricate themselves from this one but given a free pass, I'm sure they'd like a do-over on the decision to sign Beal in the first place. He played just one season of the five-year, $250 million extension he signed last July, appearing in just 50 games and contributing very little to the sporadically good vibes Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis were able to muster.
The grand sum of their trade haul for Beal is Bilal Coulibaly (a rookie project who may take some time to pay off), a quartet of future first-round picks who won't begin to arrive until 2026, a slew of second-rounders and two players who already appeared on this list — Landry Shamet and Jordan Poole. And you can make a strong argument that Poole at half the price of Beal for the next four years is only a marginally less depressing proposition.
Sometimes teams don't really have a choice and the Wizards were pretty boxed into the decision to max out Beal. But that doesn't make it any less of a train wreck.
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