Best & Worst Contracts in SLN: A Refresh

[Joe]

Best & Worst Contracts in SLN: A Refresh

It’s been over 2 calendar years (good heavens) since version 1 of this article in January of 2023, so why not bring it back and get some statute of limitation originality points (thank you new boni rules!). I just figured out it’s the 20th season anniversary, so this article can almost buy beer!

The league might have gotten a little soft with this “everybody love everybody” attitude and this article (and it’s decidedly unscientific approach to rankings) should earn me a couple shots across the bow from GM’s trying to foist their garbage deals on the Rockets (sorry Nolan, love you). Apologies in advance for my frequently unkind words towards some of these players.

I will say that in creating this article, I definitely noticed that there are way fewer humongous albatrosses than there were back in 2004 when I wrote the first version – by the same token, there are also way fewer cheeky sub-maxes for superstars because the cap teams have been keeping people honest! A very tangible measure of how we have all improved at the game, good job by you. Plenty of dumb ass contracts floating around though so this was still fun to write. Also wrote 90% of this during the Sim 12 period so sorry if any stats are a sim stale.

Let’s do a quick refresher on the rules (or just skip down to the article, this isn't prison):

1) When we talk about production, we’re going to be talking about THIS season’s performance, whether it’s an assumed aberration or not, mostly because it’s way more fun to overreact to a 50-game sample size than a players whole career. Might talk about age and potential as factors here but mostly how they lookin’ right now.

2) Good players on rookie contracts are awesome, but for this analysis, they have to already be good statistically and/or contributing meaningfully to a winning team. Rookie deals are obvi not eligible for “Worst” list. Well, maybe some of ‘em.

3) For the “Best Contracts” list, anyone on a max deal is excluded. Jamal Murray is worth more than a rookie max, but nobody’s allowed to pay him that so it’s moot. To make the value list, the guy’s gotta be on some kind of legitimate discount. Maxes are definitely eligible for the “Worst” list.

4) If a guy is on an expiring deal, he’s not eligible for the “Worst” list, and in order for him to be eligible for the “Best” list, he’d better be severely underpaid. Expiring makes a big number less bad and a small number less good. But if a dude is expiring at such a small number that the incumbent team doesn’t have a coring advantage to sign him, that’s pretty bad. Ehhh fuck it, let’s try to avoid expirings regardless.

5) In the original article, I rated every one of the “Best” guys on a scale of 1 to 5 Diops, with 5 Diops being absurd value for money – this time, we will be using CJ’s, as I’m still salty the cap teams let Jesse sign a top 5 point guard in the league to 6M a year AAV.

6) In the original article, every “Worst guy” was rated on a scale of 1 to 5 Lindsey Hunters, not by how bad the contract REALLY is for the team that has him but more on how fucking insane it is that he got the deal in the first place. Now that envious title goes to Siakams.


Best Contracts in SLN

Point Guard

The Mitten. 2 years, $21M. 3-time champion and the perfect compliment to do-it-all wings KD and TyFEET, although GP and Evans have since departed ATL for the last time. Sure, he might have technically been a third banana, but Payton is full of POTASSIUM and PROTEINS. Efficient 20ppg, the best defensive PG in the game, elite rebounding and sub-2 turnovers at almost half of what a max would be. 4 out of 5 CJs.

Cory Joseph. 4 years, $34M. Did this contract look better when he wasn’t averaging 3.5 TOs a game the last 5 seasons? Maybe. Is he still putting up 27/6 on 49/45/92 with A- defense? Definitely. 4 out of 5 CJs.

Lamelo Ball. 1 year, $3.5M. I know I said I’d avoid expiring deals but Melo hella nice. I think point guards with C+ or better rebounding are totally broken (it helps that the list of guys with that attribute are like Kidd, Lebron, Bonga, and Luka), and Melo has quality offensive ratings to boot. I will cop to thinking he was gonna be terrible in SLN and will be ordering a few more hats for dinner. Swerve bend that corner out 5 CJs.

Deangelo Russell. 3 years, $36M. Since ticking up to A outside and A- Defense and ditching his turnover problem for a cool 2.1 per game (and 0.6 blocks??), D-Lo has quietly inched his way into the elite (or almost elite) tier of point guards. Put some respek on his name! 2 out of 5 CJs.

Trae Young. 4 years, $45M. Probably not worth Kyrie, but a useful contributor nonetheless. His GMs have quickly figured out that while he’s kind of untenable as a starting 1, he’s an electric scorer and pretty turnover efficient per 36 as a backup 1-2. 1 out of 5 CJs.


Shooting Guard

Terence Davis. 4 years, 27M. Who? Real-life G-league scrub and All-Generic-Name-Team Terence Davis has found unexpected stardom in Orlando after a 2022 season where he averaged almost 4 TOs per 36. He’s incredible cut those turnovers in half and maintained his quality scoring numbers, putting up 25 a game on 48/47/89. 4 out of 5 CJs.

Lonnie Walker. 3 years, $24M. Perennial Haterade sipper Matt still thinks that Anfernee Simons and Walker are basically the same guy and they two of them are a dime a dozen – here’s a little stat for yo ass. Through 12 sims, there are 7 players in the league currently scoring 28ppg on sub 2 turnovers. They are: Myles Turner, Kevin Durant, Sime Ojeleye, Jamal Murray, Otto Porter, Kyrie Irving, and Lonnie Walker. The first 6 guys are on max or supermax deals, Lonnie Walker makes $8M AAV, is locked up for 3 years and is a plus defender at B+. Munch my salty balls Matthew. 5 out of 5 CJs.

Max Strus. 3 years, $14M. One of the few bright spots on an otherwise dark and stormy Cleveland roster, Strus has picked up the scoring slack with little other bucket-getting to be found aside from Curry. $5M a year for an efficient bit of scoring ain’t nothing to be upset about. 1 out of 5 CJs.

Matisse Thybulle. 5 years, $48M. Completely unique in our league’s history, Thybulle is the owner of a cool 12:1 stock to TO ratio at the SG. He does total bupkis is any other department so I have absolutely zero idea how to value him, but $9M AAV cannot be enough. He’s so one dimensional it’s hard to call him a unicorn, but he’s definitely something rare - maybe an albino racoon? One of those really big dogs Kyrie is always going on about? 2 out of 5 CJs, I guess?

Jalen Williams. 3 years, $10M. Stellar sophomore campaign for Williams who will be the recipient of the +5 Amelia Potential boost this offseason. 19 a game on good splits as a non-option for half the season is nothing to sneeze at, with solid defense and rebounding to go along with – nice for the Bulls to have another young star to grow alongside All-World freakshow Luka. 3 out of 5 CJs.


Small Forward

Dillon Brooks. 2 years, $16M. The centerpiece of the Otto Porter deal that has helped guarantee it is yet again the Bulls’ year, Brooks has developed into a quality two-way starter in his own right. He’s not exceptional at anything but he’s also not bad at anything either – with Kyrie as the star of the show in Milwaukee, it’s important to have guys who can fill quality minutes as 4th or 5th bananas. 2 out of 5 CJs.

Justice Winslow. 3 years, $29M. Once considered a bit of a bust, Winslow has emerged as the second coming of Gerald Wallace – and the player that Renaldo Balkman (remember him??) SHOULD have been. Having now been sent back to Sacramento where he was drafted (aka The Return of the King), expect Jesse to squeeze every bit of stocky goodness out of him. 3 out of 5 CJs.

Aaron Gordon. 2 years, $33M. I thought AG was as good a fit in Phoenix as Tyler could hope for, finally adding some stocks to the starting rotation…but when I think about, how many teams would Gordon NOT be a perfect fit for? Though he’s not exactly on a sweetheart deal, sub-max for an uber-max type of player at age 28 is pretty tight. 3 out of 5 CJs.

Jayson Tatum. 2 years, $18M. Thank jeebus this young fella turned it around, because for a second there (read: the last several seasons) he was pretty much unmitigated ass for a #1 pick. His scoring volume and efficiency have picked up (especially from 3), which has been important for a Warriors team staring down the barrel of Victor Oladipo declining and expiring. 1 out of 5 CJs.

Josh Hart. 5 years, $44M. While he’s not the second coming of Klack that the Skillz Marketing Machine foretold, Hart is worth well more than a paltry $9M AAV. He’s one of the best rebounding SFs in the game, plays great D and doesn’t hurt ya on offense. 2 out of 5 CJs.


Power Forward / Center

Alperen Sengun. 3 years, $10M. What a season for Sengun, who saw his blocks, scoring volume, scoring efficiency and (probably) OTPHJs at E11even increase substantially this year. He’s gone from weird sideshow project to legit unicorn in the span of a year, and Scoops won’t have to pay him for a while. 5 out of 5 CJs.

Trez Harrell. 2 years, $21M. Not enough Trez talk! Better than 3:1 stock to TO and 46% from the field on non-trivial volume! A huge part of the Blazers best season in recent memory. 3 out of 5 CJs.

Thon Maker. 4 years, $25M. Thon looks very MKG-y in his first full season in Seattle, where he’s getting over a steal a game in 30mpg. In an era of dwindling butthood, having a large-cheeked man in your frontcourt on a long-term cheapo deal is OP. 4 out of 5 CJs.

Andre Drummond. 2 years, $24M. Well underpaid for his entire illustrious career in Indiana, Drummond is as consistent as he is humble. He’s the beating heart of the Pacers frontcourt, and the one piece that Tonger has wisely been loathe to consider trading. Shooting a hair much for my taste this year with Sabonis gone, but still A/A and awesome. 2 out of 5 CJs.

Darius Bazley. 2 years, $24M. A similar deal to Drummond – and also a similar player, just 7 years younger. Bazley is clearly a grown-up diamond-in-the-rough like Penberthy or Brezec before him, and he might still be getting better. It’s rare that an East GM gets the better of jwoo in a deal, so hats off to RB for believing and buying low early on! Hopefully he’s able to retain him a couple season from now. 2 out of 5 CJs.


Worst Contracts in SLN

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings. 2 years, $29M. This deal did look quite a bit worse when it was 6 years long at the same run rate, but it’s still a lot to be paying your backup point guard. 3 out of 5 Siakams.

Langston Galloway. 3 years, $46M. Galloway isn’t a bad player, but he isn’t exactly a really good one either. With a roster that consists of exactly KAT and Giannis, the Wolves need more than a responsible game manager at point guard, and Galloway’s getting paid as a star while putting up exceptionally pedestrian numbers. 2 out of 5 Siakams.

Kris Dunn. 3 years, $50M. As the poem goes, All the king’s freebies and all the king’s camps, couldn’t get Krissy to stop during the damn ball over again and again. Dunn can be a useful backup role player with his strong defense, just not the GP2 mold he would need to be to a serviceable starter. He was perhaps the straw that broke the Grizzlies’ latest rebuild, unfortunately. 4 out of 5 Siakams.

Kemba Walker. 5 years, $36M. The Bobby Bonilla of SLN, Walker will be cashing Houston Rockets-branded checks until his grandkids are ready to start high school. It’s not the big a number in a vacuum – but if 33-year-old Kemba doesn’t retire, he’s going to be tough for Houston to get off the books. 3 out of 5 Siakams.

Lonzo Ball. 4 years, $64M. Tyler has scrambled creatively to fill the massive stocky void left by Bonga’s departure...Lonzo is just simply not it. He offsets some of his poor shooting and TOs with high-level defense, but the only reason he’s making this kind of money is because his dad held Kipke’s nuts to the fire. 4 out of 5 Siakams.


Shooting Guard

Deividas Sirvydas. 3 years, $28M. The latest untouchable trade asset in Philly, although I’m not sure anyone would touch this guy with a 10-foot stick. There’s probably a world where Sirvydas isn’t bad at everything, we’re just not currently living in it. The Sixers may have been better served keeping that $9M in cap :/. 6 out of 5 Siakams.

Tyler Herro. 6 years, $78M. To his credit, one thing Matt was correct about is that guys like Anfernee Simons are indeed a dime a dozen in this league. Unfortunately for the Pacers, it costs a whole lot more than 10 cents to keep Herro around. A+ Outside sexiness aside, no defense, lots of turnovers, and gruesome rebounding numbers do not a near-max-player make. 5 out of 5 Siakams.

Jeremy Lamb. 2 years, $31M. This Lambo, it appears, has run out of gas about 2 miles short of the exit. Lamb was quite useful during his time in Chicago, but his volume and efficiency - the only things keeping his contract above-ish water - have fallen off a cliff since leaving (cue O6 conspiracy music). 4 out of 5 Siakams.

Tim Hardaway Jr. 2 years, $35M. Like Lamb, at times during his most recent deal you could kinda argue that if you looked at THJ in the right light, you could see how he’s almost worth the money. Alas, all of the lamps have been flipped on and Hardaway is revealed to have been a stinky pumpkin the entire time. His hilarious D-/D+ Defense/Rebounding ratings are the worst combo of letter grades at those two attributes I’ve ever seen for a wing in FBB. Scientists are saying: probably not a max guy. 12 out of 5 Siakams.

Lu Dort. 3 years, $28M. Dort has one of the more unfortunate cases of Benjamin Button syndrome we’ve seen since Ron Mercer, never really improving after his rookie season. He’s still a serviceable backup, though $9.5M a year feels like a lot for him. 1 out of 5 Siakams.



Small Forward

Lebron James. 2 years, $48M. Long untouchable (but recently blocked!!!!) Zombie Lebron is still getting paid like it’s 2014, and DMo is happy to fork over the paycheck. James is still sorta useful but his efficiency fluctuates and he’s no longer viable at PG, which hurts his value considerably. 4 out of 5 Siakams.

Mikal Bridges. 5 years, $68M. Bridges seems to have been coasting for a long time on his name and a glowing draft profile that never turned into much of anything. He’s almost exactly average from every conceivable angle on both ends of the floor – a forgettable statline carrying a considerable dent in San Antonio’s capsheet. 3 out of 5 Siakams.

Brandon Ingram. 4 years, $52M. Ingram looked worse through Sim 12 than Sim 13, but thru Sim 13 BI is no picnic. Lots of volume on poor efficiency, negligible defense and too many turnovers for a near-max pricetag, and had some artificial inflation playing on a barren Vancouver roster all year. 2 out of 5 Siakams.

OG Anunoby. 4 years, $24M. It’s not a large deal, but on a nightly basis OG probably has statistically the least impact on the game of any player on a competing team playing 30mpg. 5.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.7 stocks to 1.0 TOs, and atrocious shooting splits. My guess is you could get that line out of 10 guys in the free agent scrap heap and 3 guys on the Rockets roster right now (sorry again Nolan). 3 out of 5 Siakams.

Chuma Okeke. 3 years, $29M. Chuma is basically Charizard to OG Anunoby’s Charmander. He makes twice as much and is equally irrelevant to the outcome of games – he rebounds a little bit more but also shoots a little more at a similarly hideous clip. The Pacers, who are otherwise a pretty good team, could probably use an upgrade here if they can dump his deal. 4 out of 5 Siakams.


Power Forward / Center

Zion Williamson. 3 years, $42M. As sad as it is to say, we live in the universe where Zion just never loses the weight and probably marries Moriah Mills (whoever that is, I wouldn’t know). Despite being the only player in SLN history (and the only one I’ve seen in FBB) with A+ inside, his volume and efficiency are lukewarm at best and everything else is well below average. 5 out of 5 Siakams.

Pascal Siakam. 3 years, $40M. I do always love when the Cavs take swings, and this one is perhaps as admirable as any – Siakam simply has the worst possible combination of FBB attributes that there is. There just isn’t a game that he plays in where he doesn’t actively generate value for the other team. 8 out of 5 Siakams.

Blake Griffin. 3 years, $32M. Blake can still sorta ball! Efficiency seems to be gone but rebounding and a couple stocks remain. Still can mess around at SF as well. If this were a 1 or 2 year deal, I’d like it…however, owing another $22M after age 35 to Blake of the Year seems like a recipe for disaster. 1 out of 5 Siakams.

Brandon Clarke. 4 years, $34M. Not completely sure what Brandon Clarke did for his GM to earn this contract, but it must have something really nice. He’s a solid rebounder I suppose? Still actively negative offensively and can’t even muster a stock and a half in 27mpg. Confucius say: “a butt with no butt is not a butt at all.” 4 out of 5 Siakams.

Jared Sullinger. 3 years, $17M. I don’t care that it’s not that much a year, people need to stop paying this guy money when he asks for it. And to make matters worse, every FA he suggests a max re-signing as if no one has noticed what total waste of space he is. At least now he’s not getting paid like he’s Dirk. 4 out of 5 Siakams.


Sheesh that took forever. Sound off on who I missed!

[Merv]

Rookie contracts on value deals is cheating

[Merv]

“ Ingram looked worse through Sim 12 than Sim 13, but Sim 13 BI is no picnic.”

Meanwhile, actual Sim 13 BI

36 PPG 7.8 RPG 4.3 APG 2.5 SPG 1.8 TOV
.533 / .552 / .889

[Joe]

“ Ingram looked worse through Sim 12 than Sim 13, but Sim 13 BI is no picnic.”

Meanwhile, actual Sim 13 BI

36 PPG 7.8 RPG 4.3 APG 2.5 SPG 1.8 TOV
.533 / .552 / .889

Clearly meant *thru Sim 13 BI, i.e.:

24.7 8.0 3.4 1.1 0.3 2.0 .452 .804 .401

Corrected in the article

[Merv]

“ Ingram looked worse through Sim 12 than Sim 13, but Sim 13 BI is no picnic.”

Meanwhile, actual Sim 13 BI

36 PPG 7.8 RPG 4.3 APG 2.5 SPG 1.8 TOV
.533 / .552 / .889

Clearly meant *thru Sim 13 BI, i.e.:

24.7 8.0 3.4 1.1 0.3 2.0 .452 .804 .401

Well that’s technically inaccurate as well.

Erroneous. Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts

[Joe]

“ Ingram looked worse through Sim 12 than Sim 13, but Sim 13 BI is no picnic.”

Meanwhile, actual Sim 13 BI

36 PPG 7.8 RPG 4.3 APG 2.5 SPG 1.8 TOV
.533 / .552 / .889

Clearly meant *thru Sim 13 BI, i.e.:

24.7 8.0 3.4 1.1 0.3 2.0 .452 .804 .401

Well that’s technically inaccurate as well.

Erroneous. Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts

Has he not been played 13 sims? Corrections welcome

[ashes]

Wemby best value contract?

[Joe]

Wemby best value contract?

He was definitely on the shortlist, prob honorable mention - tried not to factor potential into any of this and look at just pure current realized production + contract

[jwoo]

TyFeet…

[nolan]

honored to have earned the new measuring stick of ass