There have been many great players who have changed teams over the years via NBA free agency. Some signings/contracts turned out to be ideal. LeBron James joining the Miami Heat in 2010, Jalen Brunson to the Knicks back in 2022, Kevin Durant with the Warriors in July 2016 just to name a few.
On the other hand, there have been some complete flops with free agents. Unfortunately, this article will cover just that. Here is a look at the 10 worst NBA free agent contracts ever.
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Larry Hughes, 5 years, $70 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers
To kick off the list, we chose Larry Hughes contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hughes signed a five year, $70 million free agent contract before the 2005 season. The previous year, he was with the Washington Wizards and it was the best season of his career.
He averaged 22 points, six rebounds and three steals per game. He also made the NBA’s All Defensive Team. Expectations when he signed with the Cavaliers were high, especially given that Cleveland had a young superstar in LeBron James. Unfortunately, it was anything but. Although the Cavs made the Finals in 2007, Hughes never really found his form again and he did not finish out his contract, only playing three seasons. His career averages in a Cavs uniform: 14.3 points per game, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
Joakim Noah, 4 years, $72 million with the New York Knicks
Joakim Noah was on the downside of his career when he signed with the Knicks in 2016. It was a disaster to say the least. He was a 30-year-old center coming off a season where he only played in 29 games due to injury. He only lasted two seasons in a Knicks uniform and played a total of 53 games. Injuries played a big part in that but nonetheless, the Knicks grossly overpaid for an aging player. What else is new for them?
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Evan Turner, 4 years, $70 million with the Portland Trailblazers
This was an awful NBA free agent contract to say the least. The main reason this contract was not ideal is because Turner took up the majority of the Blazers’ cap space. He was brought in to pair with superstar point guard Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in the 2016-17 season.
Unfortunately, he had no impact on the team at all. Turner averaged 10 points a game for three seasons and rarely got to be in the starting lineup. His high-water mark was starting 40 out of 79 games in the 2017-18 season. Turner was later traded to the Atlanta Hawks in 2019.
Timofey Mozgov, 4 years, $64 million with the Los Angeles Lakers
Timofey Mozgov is number seven on ourlist. We’ll just keep this short and sweet as to why this was a failure. Mozgov was part of back-to-back Finals appearances with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015 and winning the title in 2016. He had nice role off the bench both of those years. The Lakers were so desperate, they decided to sign him as a free agent.
He only lasted one season in a Lakers uniform and was not worth it. He only played in 54 games in 2016-17 and was non effective. As a whole, that team was in a total rebuild and Mozgov ended up being a wasted signing.
Luol Deng, 4 years, $72 million with the Los Angeles Lakers
Like Mozgov, signing Luol Deng would not pan out for the Los Angeles Lakers. He only played 49 games in the first season of the contract in 2016 and was overtaken in the rotation by an emerging star in Brandon Ingram. It was a messy situation in the first year for the Lakers post Kobe as they were trying to just stitch together some semblance of a basketball team.
Deng was benched the entire 2017-18 season and later waived in the summer. Here’s where the contract came back to bite them: the remaining two years of his contract were stretched over a five year period, meaning LA paid him $2.83 million a game while Deng signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the summer of 2018. In all, the remaining two years on the contract he had with the Lakers totaled $65.3 million. He got every penny.
Elton Brand, 5 years, $82 million with the Philadelphia 76ers
Brand makes the top five of our list. He missed 76 games over the duration of his tenure in Philadelphia and his game greatly declined. With the Clippers, he averaged over 20 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game in seven seasons. With the 76ers, he averaged only 12 points and seven rebounds a game and only played 29 games in his first season in Philadelphia. Brand was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in the final year of the contract in the 2012-13 season.
Bottom line is: injuries derailed him in his final seasons as an NBA player. Brand would later become the general manager of the 76ers in 2017 after his retirement.
Eddy Curry, 6 years, $56 million with the New York Knicks
This situation was an all-around disaster. Eddy Curry had a heart issue that caused him to miss the playoffs during the 2004 season. When he hit free agency in July, he refused to have tests done on his heart to determine what the exact problem was. New York looked right past it and offered him nearly $10 million a year in 2005. He had a poor 2005-06 season but bounced back in 2006, averaging 20 points and seven rebounds.
The following season, he completely fell off and only played 58 games and was benched at the beginning of the season due to showing up to training camp overweight and not being in good physical condition. The final three seasons of his Knicks career from 2008-11, he played 10 games total, including not being active in the 2010 season but still on the roster. Ouch.
Ben Wallace, 4 years, $60 million with the Chicago Bulls
At the time of this contract, Wallace was already 32 years old. So, that alone makes it a terrible contract. You don’t give an athlete at that age a four-year deal. It’s at least very rare in this day and age. Simply put, Wallace was non effective in his time with the Bulls. He played 77 games in his first season with the Bulls in 2006 which seemed to be a positive but it was clear he was not the same player he was in Detroit.
In the 2007-08 season, Wallace only played 50 games for the Bulls before getting traded to the Cavaliers for the final 32 games. The contract at the time was insane especially given it was for a low end center: $15 million a year which accounted for nearly 25% of a team’s salary cap.
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Shawn Kemp, 7 years, $107 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers
Kemp was not the same player at the turn of the century like he once was. But apparently, the Cleveland Cavaliers thought so when they signed him to a seven-year contract in 1997. He only lasted three seasons in Cleveland and although he was serviceable and had produced with averaging 18 points and nine rebounds a game over three seasons, he struggled mightily with weight issues for a long time and was traded to the Portland Trailblazers in 2000.
He barely lasted in Portland, only starting eight total games over a two year span before finishing his career in Orlando for one season and was released before the 2003 season. However, he still got paid $14.3 million while sitting at home.
Gilbert Arenas, 6 years, $111 million with the Washington Wizards
Arenas signed a stout contract with the Washington Wizards in July 2008. It did not go as expected by any means. He was coming off a major knee injury in 2007 and he was trying to rush back from his rehab too quickly. Arenas got back to in his words “95%” as far as his recovery with his knee so he signed the six year deal. However, it would be VERY short lived.
Arenas only played in 32 games in the 2009-10 season. He was suspended by the NBA for 50 games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The exact reasoning behind the suspension? He brought unloaded guns with him to the Wizards locker room one day. This incident all stemmed from an argument he had with teammate Javaris Crittenton over a $1,000 bet and winning a card game.
